


Team Seven Brats

by VirgoAthenaPurple



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), Dai-nana-han | Team 7 as Family (Naruto), Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:08:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 73,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26023195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirgoAthenaPurple/pseuds/VirgoAthenaPurple
Summary: Sometimes you just have to do things, that's especially true when you get pressured into it. But who knows? Maybe it'll be fun along the way. Who knows what these three brats are capable of. But training the three of them was harder said than done. Alternate: Kakashi doesn't have a choice; he'll make them the best shinobi possible - and he does not disappoint.SeriouslyTrained!Team 7, Serious!Kakashi, Team 7 centric, follows canon storyline-ish. Canon pairings (to come later).
Comments: 23
Kudos: 267





	1. The Beginning of Team 7, I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi is notified by the Hokage about some interesting news; Team 7 is a newly minted team that somehow ends up intoxicated.

Kakashi was his usual self, flipping through his _Icha Icha_ novel, humming a tune to himself, while walking towards the Hokage Tower, where the Sandaime waited. He sensed the chakra natures of everyone in the shinobi village, expertly making his way around all of his fellow jonin and mentally cheers as he makes it past Gai, despite the green beast being on the other side of the village.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi chimes, walking inside without a warning. "You called?"

The old man sighed. "You should learn how to knock, Kakashi."

"Meh," Kakashi shrugged, "knocking's for genin and civis. Alerting you before they come are chunin and jonin. I'd usually take the window, but then Kurenai would see me, so nah."

"Typical," the Sandaime shook his head, "now, about the graduating Academy students."

"Hmm." Kakashi nods, shutting his book close. The Copy-Nin isn't usually seen without his perverted book, but Hiruzen was content with the fact that Kakashi was willing to pay attention. Sometimes the Hatake was a _tiny_ bit selective when it comes to paying attention to people.

"Your new team," the Hokage's eyes turned dark, "you have to pass them."

"Huh?" Kakashi blinked. "This is my genin team; don't I get to chose if they pass or not?"

"Political pressure," Hiruzen grumbles, "worst thing in the world."

"Political pressure." Kakashi repeated. "Screw it. If they aren't qualified, they aren't qualified. End of story."

The Sandaime let out a little KI, or otherwise known as Killing Intent. " _Kakashi_." It wasn't to freak the man out, but it was a warning. Kakashi's been through much worse than an old man's KI, even if the old man was the Hokage and known as the most powerful Kage of his generation.

Kakashi sighed, massaging his temple. "Do I have permission to whip them into shape?"

Hiruzen nods slowly. "You have to. With the Uchiha survivor, the Yondaime's son and the rich Haruno heiress, they have high expectations on them. You're the only one suited for this."

"What, so ANBU training is okay?"

"...not that. They're still children, Kakashi."

"They're not that young." Kakashi pointed out. "I joined ANBU just a year older than them."

Hiruzen rolled his eyes, taking in a breath of smoke. "We're not at war or anything, Kakashi. Dismissed."

"Kakashi Hatake, 009720, jonin." And when he finished identifying himself, the ninja saunters back out of the office, waving a hand in farewell. Hiruzen inhales another mouthful of his tobacco. The Sandaime's chakra spiked, and a guarding ANBU member was instantly by his side, the window flung wide open.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

The Sandaime narrowed his eyes. "Make sure no one enters training ground twenty-two."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The ANBU paused. "May I ask why?"

The old man sighed, closing his eyes. "I think our top shinobi needs to blow off some steam. Anyone caught in the collective damage will take responsibility; don't say I didn't warn you."

It was normal for Kakashi to blow off some steam. It was just...the man's gone through a lot, and one of the things he hated the most was being a pawn with his decisions being decided by someone else. Despite what others think, the most prominent reason why Kakashi's dropped all of his former teams, was because he didn't want them to be pressured into something they didn't want to do. Being part of the 'Team 7 legacy' meant that a lot of attention was on the members, and that was something Kakashi wanted to be avoided.

**|\/|/\|**

"Righto," Kakashi eye-smiled, "my cute little genin. Let's do this."

In front of the jonin stood freshly graduated Academy students; Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. The one thing they had in common? That they were tired, somehow being kept up at night by some weird puppy who demanded attention.

"You all look tired." Kakashi raises an eyebrow.

Naruto groaned. "There was this freaking annoying dog, and what's-it-name kept me up _all_. _Night_. _Long_."

"Me too!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Wretched dogs." Sasuke agreed.

Kakashi smiled, and the three genin hopes soared, maybe they're first training day wasn't going to so hard-

-and all three of them ate dirt a split second later. Kakashi stood over them, a stormy look on his face. "What kind of shinobi complained after _one_ sleepless night? I need to teach you quite a lot, it seems. First lesson. Never complain. Understood?" He never understood this declining Academy education. When he was back in there, part of the graduation exam was you had to stay awake for seventy two hours without rest. What was going on inside of that academy nowadays?

None of them responded, too busy rolling around on their stomachs, gasping for breath.

Kakashi inhaled, letting out a small dose of KI, just to shock them out of their pain. "I said, understood?"

All three of the squeaked, "understood, sensei."

"Good." Kakashi hauled all three of them up and expertly tied them upside down before any of them even realised what happened, making sure that all three of them were unarmed and had no way of getting out. "Now, we're going to have a psychology session today. We're going to take turns saying something honest that you know no one else knows."

"What?" Sakura tried to turned her head the right way round, but ended up swinging and knocking into Naruto's face, who in turn kneed Sasuke in the stomach.

"Haruno!" Sasuke hissed. "That was uncalled for!"

"Sorry!" Sakura pleaded. "I didn't mean it!"

"I'll go first." Kakashi offers. "Usually I'd do a team assessment to decide if a genin team is worth it or not, but I didn't this time. Why? Because I was ordered by the Hokage to pass the three of you, due to some political pressure."

All three genin shut up.

Naruto was the first to speak after a moment of silence. "Ordered to pass us?"

"Correct." Kakashi eye-smiled. "Now, who's next? How about you, you brooding Uchiha?"

Sasuke scowled. "Why do I have to do this childish little-"

"Because I said so." Kakashi smiled, but it was bordering on a dangerous line. The genin gulp. Kakashi usually didn't be so mean at his subordinates, but something made the Sandaime order him to pass the team, and Kakashi was frustrated. And this team was like the scraps and leftovers of the graduating Academy class this year, which is something that Kakashi wanted - _needed_ \- to change. "What was lesson number one again, Yellow?"

Naruto exchanged glances with Sakura. "Er, me?"

"Yes, you."

"Never complain?"

"Don't say it like a question, please."

"Never complain."

Kakashi turned to Sasuke, his charcoal black eye boring into Sasuke's. "Now, you hear that? Don't complain, you little brat. You've only passed because I was ordered to pass you."

Sasuke spat out a mouthful of blood, his face already swelling up. "Hai, sensei."

"Good." Kakashi let go of Sasuke, and the boy gasped as his back hit the tree with a small bang. "Now, it's your turn."

Even Sasuke didn't disobey. "I want to kill my brother."

Kakashi yawned. "Already knew that. Next."

Sasuke scowled, turning pink. "I like tomatoes."

"That's wonderful!" Kakashi smiled. "Obnoxious orange fox, it's your turn."

Naruto again was uncertain. "That's...me?"

"That's you." Kakashi nods .

"Um - well - I sometimes get beaten up by villagers!" Naruto cried, ratting off the first thing on his tongue. "None of you knew that, dattebayo!"

Kakashi's KI leaked. "You sometimes get _what_ by _who_?"

"I get...beaten up...by some villagers...when I'm alone?" Naruto repeated, his voice getting smaller and smaller as Kakashi's KI increased, making the air turn frigid and charged with electricity. It was a theory that if your chakra reserves were large enough, even by releasing some KI, you'll also subconsciously leak chakra into the atmosphere and change the air according to your chakra nature.

"Who." It wasn't a question. It was demand. The person who dared lay a hand on his sensei's child was going to go to hell.

"Some guy named Kyosuke and his gang! I swear! They're the usual ones!"

Kakashi nods, his KI suddenly disappearing and the air turning normal. The jonin eye-smiles. "Your turn, Sakura-chan."

The Haruno felt a shiver go down her spine. "Er, I'm the unwanted child ever since my brother came back from his business trip?"

"That was new." Kakashi nods. "Now it's my turn." He settles down on the ground comfortably, much to his dangling genin's horror. "My honest impression of you three? One; an arrogant loud blabbermouth who can't keep his damaged pride in check,"

Sasuke growled.

"Two; the most childish, idiotic and ignorant person I have ever met - and that's including five year olds,"

Naruto winced, looking someplace else, ashamed.

"And three; a spoilt brat heiress who's whining about her golden brother returning and has no idea about hard work."

Sakura hissed, eyes turning angry.

Kakashi held out his arms, wincing internally as he knew it was too harsh. But they needed to face reality, exaggerated or not. "Prove me wrong when I teach you. Emo duckhead. It's your turn."

"...I like getting up in the mornings to watch sunrises."

"Next."

"I like doing what teme does, watching sunrises! It's so peaceful, dattebayo!"

"Interesting...spoilt brat?"

"I'm not - er, um, my familydoesn'tlikeshinobisoIbecameonetopissthemoff."

"Rebellious child, hmm?"

"What did Haruno say?"

"She said, that her family doesn't like shinobi so she became one to piss them-"

"What?!"

The other two boys didn't know how to react. One had become shinobi because a, it was in his blood, and b, he needed to become stronger to kill his brother. The other one had become shinobi to a, become Hokage, which then b, in turn gave him attention. Kakashi clapped his hands together, startling the three genin and drawing attention to himself.

"Lesson two; never interrupt me when I speak." Kakashi's face turned hard, but not the kind that was purposeful. It almost seemed...nostalgic. "Lesson three; never judge a person by their words. Lesson four; always support your teammates."

"But-"

Kakashi sent a glare towards Naruto, who instantly shut up. "I'll be giving out five lessons each session, so remember them carefully. When I mean support, I mean helping them. Yes, Sakura might have the worst excuse to become shinobi I have heard in a long time, but that doesn't mean she wants to become shinobi on her own. Now it's my turn."

"Hai, sensei." All three genin chorused, mind getting dizzy from being tied upside down for too long.

Kakashi smiled innocently. "Those dogs that kept you up all night? They're mine. _Kuchiyose no Jutsu._ "

A puff of smoke appeared, before it gradually dissipated, and there stood three dogs, all of them familiar. Kakashi relished in amusement the horror of his genin and how smug his dogs were once they recognised each other.

"What's-it's-name! YOU!"

"It's Pakkun, fox kid."

"Stop calling me a fox!"

"You..."

"Shiba. Thanks, Uchiha kid."

"You're the one who tore up my blanket at night and I almost froze to death!"

"Urushi at your service, ma'am."

"Next," Kakashi eye-smiled, "brat, it's your turn."

Sasuke growled. "I now hate dogs."

Kakashi shrugged, turning to Naruto, who was still in an argument with Pakkun, and surprisingly enough, it was about who was the loudest last night. "Naruto. It's your turn."

"I don't know who my parents are!" Naruto yelled, the blood in his head finally affecting him. Kakashi smiled. There we go. Now they could _really_ have a heart to heart, of course, with the kids' version of being drunk.


	2. The Beginning of Team 7, II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 is looking for hidden scrolls around the village; Kakashi kills some time; and Team 10 is freaked out.

"This is..." Sakura yawned. "A scroll."

"Correct." Kakashi beamed, despite the fact that it was three am in the morning. The jonin had his clones drag the three genin out of bed, and now all three of them stood in the freezing cold in just their pyjamas. Naruto was the best off, he went to sleep with everything on - including his jacket - simply because he had no blanket or duvet to sleep underneath. Sasuke, however, stood there in navy shorts and a plain white t-shirt, shivering like mad. Sakura was in a light pink nightgown, hugging herself to create warmth.

"Now." Kakashi smiles wider. "Recap of the lessons from last night. Obnoxious orange fox?"

"Lesson one; never complain."

"Brooding navy emo?"

"Lesson two; never interrupt you."

"Spoilt pink brat?"

"Lesson three; never judge a person by their words."

"Hmm. Fox?"

"Lesson four; always support your teammates."

"Emo?"

"Lesson five; never question you or your methods."

Kakashi smiled. "Seems like you all remember! That's great! Now's time for lesson six; always wear your gear."

The three genin nod weakly. "Lesson six; always wear your gear." They chorused, shivering and sniffing in the freezing cold. Kakashi however, was dressed in his usual jonin outfit, with an extra cloak around his shoulders. It was used so his genin couldn't see the blood on his back from where he went on an assassination mission earlier that morning, an emergency from the Hokage.

"Now, unseal what's in the scroll," Kakashi instructs, and counts how long it takes for the genin to identify and undo the seal in pitch darkness, with only the moon as a light source. Then he noted they were shivering like they were naked in the snow. Did he forgot that it was already winter? He thought it was still autumn...

Naruto ended up being the one to unseal it, and Kakashi wasn't surprised, the Uzumaki was known for being seal masters. "Sensei, these are..."

"Yup." Kakashi grinned. "ANBU uniforms with a slight twist."

Sakura gaped. "They're completely white!"

"With black masks and cloaks." Sasuke squinted at his sensei. "Are we like...the opposite of ANBU?"

"Can't have the actual ANBU confusing you little brats with them, so there." Kakashi yawned. "Took me a while to convince the Sandaime."

"How long?" Naruto asked while turning around to find someplace private to change.

Kakashi held up a hand, and the boy froze. "You're all changing here. And it probably took me half-an-hour. That's my thirty minutes wasted on you three, so you better wear it."

Sakura gulped as the two boys exchanged glances before respectfully turned around and tried to avert their eyes, but Kakashi was instantly behind them and twisted them back around so all three of them faced each other.

"Get changed. Now."

Not even needing a bit of KI to push them along, the genin instantly stripped in front of each other, Sakura turned redder than even the ripest strawberry. Naruto and Sasuke had the decency not to look, but it was kind of hard while facing each other and Kakashi forcing their heads up.

"Lesson seven," Kakashi said as soon as all three had finished changing, "you are shinobi. Under any circumstances, _any_ circumstances, you will prioritise your missions and teammates and not your privacy or your personal preferences."

"Lesson seven; we are shinobi. Under any circumstances, we will prioritise our missions and teammates and not our privacy or our personal preferences." The genin chorused, committing it to memory, sounding quite robotic and the black not-ANBU masks added to the scene. They were scarred for life by the time Kakashi had let them down from being tied up the night before, having sprouted anything that comes to mind while being honest. Let's say the genin's closest people in their life was now their teammates and sensei, who had to listen to them tell secret after secret.

Kakashi grinned under the mask. It seemed like these genin weren't as bad as he thought... "Alright, you have three hours to find three scrolls that I've places around the whole village." He smiled wider, making it visible even in the dark. "I'll see you at six-thirty am."

And with that, the jonin _shunshined_ away, leaving his genin there, completely startled and vulnerable. He appeared at the top of the Hokage tower, yawning. This shouldn't be too hard of a task...right? Oh, who was he kidding, telling genin to find three things in a huge village within three hours was pretty much impossible.

Well, let's see if the prodigy, top kunoichi and Jinchuriki live up to Kakashi's expectations...

**|\/|/\|**

"Right, so we found Yellow's scroll at Blue's house," Sakura recounted, "and lost two hours already. We still have to find both Blue's and mine."

Kakashi had appeared at the one hour mark to inform them of lesson eight; always use code names on missions. And so they went with the most obvious ones, Yellow, Blue and Red.

"I still can't unseal it," Naruto pouted, "how does he seal these things?"

"We should be able to go to the Hokage now, it's five-thirty am." Sasuke pointed to the Hokage Tower, where a light was on. "I'll go."

"Nu-uh," Naruto wagged a finger, "I'll go because it's my scroll, and you two continue looking. I'll draw a chakra seal on you two, it's so I can locate you when I need to."

Sakura huffed. "I would decline, but this is urgent."

"No way." Sasuke shook his head, taking a step back. "There is no way in hell will I ever let you do anything to me, dobe."

"Lesson seven," Naruto reprimanded, "we are shinobi. Under any circumstances, we will prioritise our missions-"

"Okay, you don't need to become sensei," Sasuke hissed.

"-and teammates and not our privacy or our personal preferences." Naruto continued, grinning. "Now I get why sensei does it, it's so satisfying when you guys listen to what I say."

Naruto was currently drawing the same symbol he saw on the first scroll which had their not-ANBU uniforms in it, somehow sensing that it was a locating seal. But he definitely wasn't going to say it was a hunch, or else Sakura will pummel him into the ground and Sasuke will insult him for the rest of his life.

"Are you sure the seal works?" Sakura looks at the orange chakra on the back of her hand. "Because if it doesn't, we're screwed."

Naruto nods confidently. "I'm sure it'll work."

"We need to get going," Sasuke peers up at the sky, "it's already five-forty something. Let's go, Red."

"Hai, Blue-kun!" Sakura easily bound after the Uchiha as soon as Naruto had finished drawing the seal on Sasuke's arm, before the Uzumaki ran towards the Hokage Tower, feet silent thanks to the ANBU clothing design and looking like a real ANBU operative with his unnerving mask.

Naruto remembered to knock before he entered and walked in with a scroll in hand. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, before narrowing his eyes. "You..."

"Naruto, jiji!" Naruto grinned. "Dattebayo!"

The Sandaime shook his head, muttering, "Kakashi was right, the uniforms do change the atmosphere..."

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing." The man yawned. "What are you doing here so early up?"

"Sensei dragged us up at three," Naruto shrugged, "this is nothing. Now, do you know anything about seals, jiji?"

Hiruzen nods. "I know a thing or two."

"Can you unseal this?" Naruto held his scroll forwards, and Hiruzen had to tell himself over and over again this was _Naruto Uzumaki_ , not a new ANBU recruit. He looked scarily like one, which is probably what Kakashi was aiming for. The Sandaime inspected the scroll first, amused at the print script of NARUTO U. written on the side of the scroll, before turning his eye on the seal holding close the scroll.

Hiruzen's eyes almost bulged out of his socket. Uzumaki seals?! No one's studied that since the Yondaime's demise, and Minato only taught it to his living student...how did Kakashi want his genin to figure it out? Ahhhh, so he wanted them to seek help.

The Sandaime shook his head with a smile before unsealing the scroll and opening the scroll up to find two jutsus listed inside, along with the instructions on how to learn them. "Interesting..."

"Hmm? Jiji, can I have it back? We're kinda on a time limit..." Naruto said awkwardly.

The Hokage chuckled, before handing it to Naruto. "Have fun, child. It seems like placing Kakashi as your teacher wasn't a mistake."

"Dattebayo!" Naruto cheered. "He's a good teacher and all, but I really need to go! I think Sa - Blue's found his scroll!"

And with that, Naruto disappeared, leaving the Hokage to his thoughts. So Kakashi had already drilled in code names, that was fast. Code names were usually taught to early chunin...well, that man was definitely whipping these children into shape. That's when Hiruzen realised; Naruto didn't once say anything about ramen or being Hokage. And he _always_ does that. Once every two to three sentences, but this Naruto was solely focused on his mission. Hiruzen sighed, glancing out of his window and seeing a black-cloaked ANBU rushing towards two others wearing black cloaks.

_I wonder what Kakashi's doing which is so effective..._

Meanwhile, at the same time, Kakashi sat at his favourite store, the bookstore. The woman who owned the bookstore was an old friend, a veteran from the Third Shinobi War, but was crippled so she was no longer able to fight. But she was nice, gave Kakashi discounts and sometimes had Kakashi babysit her two children.

"Kakashi," Kurenai walked over, "fancy seeing you over here."

Kakashi raised a hand. "Sup." He had expected both her and Asuma to come, having detected their chakra signatures, but wasn't surprised when Asuma parted ways to head towards the Nara Estate.

"So," Kurenai sat opposite him, "how's your team going?"

Kakashi didn't hate small talk, in fact, he liked it. It was a good opportunity to gain information discreetly. "I think they're okay. It's six now, right?"

"Correct." Kurenai yawns. "I'm gonna wait until eight."

Kakashi nods. "That's good. You have the Hyuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame, if memory serves right."

"Yeah," Kurenai tugged at her sleeve, "do you have any tips on teaching? Their my first genin team...and I only recently got promoted to jonin. So, our generation's golden boy, anything?"

Kakashi chuckled when she said 'golden boy'. That's what the people in their generation called him. "Well, if it makes you feel better, my team's my first team too. I failed all the others. So I guess it's just conveying what you find is most important in being shinobi."

"Riiiight," Kurenai was unimpressed, "what about ANBU recruits? You've definitely trained them."

Kakashi grinned. "The most fun I've had in my whole life. But that's different, you can drill anything you want into them, and they have to do it. But these are genin we're talking about."

"Damn," Kurenai grumbled, "if only it was that easy."

Kakashi hummed in agreement, his book discarded and his fingers were playing with the corner of the page he was currently reading. "Oh, and right. I almost forgot to ask."

"Ask what?"

"How's you and Asuma?"

Kurenai choked on air. " _What_?"

Kakashi shrugged innocently. "I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who sees-"

"There's nothing going on!" Kurenai protested, shaking her head.

"Huh." Kakashi tilted his head. "I'm pretty sure he asked you out but then your father passed so you declined...are you sure there's nothing going on?"

"Shut up, golden boy." Kurenai glared at him, and he simply raised his hands in defence. "There is nothing going on between us."

"Yet," Kakashi muttered, before standing up and slipping his book inside his newly changed vest, this time without blood on the back. "Anyways, I'm going to check on how my genin are going. You asked for a tip; watch your team when they think you're not around. You'll definitely pick up more weaknesses by doing that."

Kurenai nods and thanks him, watching the tall jonin walk off with a wave. She still admired him, of course, but not like she admired him as a child. She would deny to the ends of the earth that she was a fangirl, but now she admired him as the top jonin and ex-ANBU commander.

**|\/|/\|**

"I can't believe it, my scroll's at Ichiraku's?" Sakura gaped, holding a scroll in hand, standing outside of the ramen stand.

Sasuke thought carefully. "Yellow's scroll was at my estate, yours is at Yellow's favourite restaurant, wouldn't that mean that my scroll is somewhere where you'll be a regular?"

"Me?" Sakura nods slowly. "I guess so."

"Where would that be?" Naruto asked, peering at Sakura. "We only have fifteen minutes left!"

"Thirteen," Sasuke corrected.

"I got it!" Sakura exclaimed. "Either...the park, the mall, the clothes centre, Ino's flower stall, the Nara's shogi place, or cherry blossom lake!"

Her two teammates gape at her. "You're kidding." Naruto couldn't find any other words. "I'm reaching my clone limit already!"

"The shogi place?" Sasuke frowned, even though his teammates couldn't see, they knew he was confused. "You play shogi?"

"So I'll go to the mall, my favourite store, Blue can go to the cherry blossom lake, and Yellow and his clones go everywhere else." Sakura counts on her fingers, finishing off brightly.

Naruto smiled weakly under his mask. "I don't even know where all the other places are."

"Just summon them," Sakura orders.

" _Kage Bushin no Jutsu_ ," Naruto scowled, forcing more of his chakra out. Unbeknownst to him, he was now using the Kyuubi's chakra, with the fox testing out to see what would happen if he lent some chakra out. And yes, the seal was slowly weakening due to the exchange, so Kurama bid his time, waiting and lending chakra to weaken the seal. Two clones appear, and Sakura shakes her head.

"I need another one."

Naruto scrunched up his face and managed to muster up another clone before Sakura went into commander-mode. "Right, you, you're going to the clothes centre, the Senju line. You, you're going to the park. You, go to Ino's store. And you, the real Naruto, will go to the shogi place."

The three replicas of Naruto nod and sigh before rushing off, dressed in the white not-ANBU uniforms, scaring a bunch of civilians and genin, who weren't used to see them. Since they had their black cloaks and hoods on, they were unidentifiable and it was awesome. There was no monster kid, or pitiful Uchiha, or rich girl to be envious about.

"Meet up at with sensei?" Sasuke inquired.

Sakura nods, and Naruto nods afterwards. The three of them split up, rushing to three different parts of the village, passing their fellow Academy graduates, who had no idea who they were, simply staring at their weird uniform.

"Who's that?" Ino asked, pointing to clone-Naruto who slowed down at her flower store. "I've never seen a uniform like that."

"Me neither," Asuma narrowed his eyes. "But I've seen them run around all morning. If the Hokage thinks it's fine, then they shouldn't be too much of a threat."

Shikamaru yawned. "Let's just get training down, I want to go home."

Asuma kept an eye on the weird black-cloaked short man who scouted about inside, but then he brushes past all the plants and glances black and forth, before shrugging and leaving. The Sandaime's son couldn't help but think, _suspicious behaviour_. Who just enters a store without doing anything but looking inside? Not to mention looking _everywhere_ inside.

"What time is it?" Choji asked, yawning. "Asuma-sensei, why are we up so early?"

"It's only six-twenty," Asuma replied, "not that early. Sometimes you'll have to get up even earlier."

"Not me," Shikamaru yawned again, "they'll know not to wake me up or I'll kill them."

Asuma smiled. "Alright! First training session; taijutsu! Let's run through the basic stances, I want them perfect at half speed by the end of the day!"

But ten minutes later, Kakashi saunters onto the field, sitting underneath a tree nearby, waving at Asuma and pulling out his _Icha Icha_ book. Asuma walked over, directing his genin to walk over too. "What are you doing here, golden boy?"

"Waiting." Kakashi smiles up at team 10. "Just ignore me."

"It's kind of hard," Shikamaru said, "Hatake-san, when there's a bunch of ANBU weirdos coming for you."

And true to the Nara's word, Team 7, dressed in their not-ANBU clothing, was running at Kakashi, who looked up at the sky, squinting at the barely rising sun. It _was_ winter, so the sun was terribly low.

"Sensei!" All three of them arrive, bowing and out of breath.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Exactly on time. Good job. Now, let me see those scrolls."

"Sensei." Sakura held out two scrolls.

Kakashi picked them up, twirling them in his hands. "Where's the third one?"

All there of them shudder. "Er, we ran out of time," Sasuke answered for the team, biting down on his tongue so he doesn't say more than needed. Team 10, even Shikamaru, were surprised.

Asuma cleared his throat. "This is your...ANBU team?"

Kakashi smiled brightly. "My genin team. Little wretches, take your hoods and masks off."

All three of then in sync throw their black hoods off to reveal their familiar colourful hair before they took off their masks, looking quite exhausted. Ino screeched. "Sasuke-kun! Oh! Which one of you were in my store?!"

Naruto raised a hand sheepishly. "Sorry, I was looking for a scroll."

"Well, it's time for lesson nine; never trust anything new, not patterns or anything you _think_ you know." Kakashi snapped his book shut, holding up a finger. "You believed that because fox's scroll was at emo's house and brat's scroll was at fox's favourite store does not necessarily mean anything. Want to know where the last scroll is?"

All three of them nod. "Lesson nine; never trust anything new or what we think we know," They chorus.

"It's at the hospital." Kakashi grins.

"Hospital..." Naruto deadpans. "But that has nothing to do with any of us!"

"Exactly." Kakashi stood up, bonking all three of them on the head as punishment. "I gave you three hours, you came back with two scrolls."

The genin wince, waiting for a lecture or something of that kind. Kakashi beamed. "Impressive, for you genin."

Sakura let out a breath of relief. "Do we have anything on now?"

"Yes." Kakashi eye-smiled, and sent a shiver down his genin's spines. "You have three minutes to get the third scroll and back here. Starting now."

"It's on the other side of the village!" Sakura remembers. "Ditch the cloaks! We'll never make it in time!"

Sasuke nods. "I'll go ahead, Naruto, you run to about two-thirds of the way there, and Sakura, you stay at the first third point. We'll do it like a relay."

"Change of plans," Naruto shook his head, "I'll send my clones forwards we can sprint for about a fifth of the way each. Formation; Relay Race!"

The three of them bolted, leaving a pile of their black cloaks, and a trail of dust. Asuma whistles. "Effective, golden boy."

"I've told you to stop calling me that," Kakashi remarks offhandedly, settling back down on the ground and opening up _Icha Icha_. "You should go train now. They'll be back in about three minutes."

Asuma grins and ushers his team away, who was still processing the fact that Sakura _didn't_ fangirl over Sasuke, who also _didn't_ insult Naruto and provoke the blond, and they _actually worked together_.

"You see that?" Asuma flicked their foreheads. "That's what we call teamwork. You might not have to like them, but you have to learn how to work well together with them."

Ino growled. "We're the next generation Ino-Shika-Cho. We're gonna beat forehead-girl in teamwork!"

"Huh," Shikamaru nods sluggishly, "sure thing. Whatever."

Choji simply shoved more chips into his mouth, motivated. Asuma barks, "get into those taijutsu formations!"

Kakashi watched as his comrade trained his team, noting how Asuma got a little head start; he didn't have to focus on teamwork, as it was already imprinted in those clans. Kakashi sighed, flicking through the lines of _Icha Icha_ , his internal clock ticking away, counting slowly up to one hundred and eighty seconds, and when it reached one hundred and forty, Kakashi closed his book and stood up, stretching.

Fifty-seven seconds later, a puffing Sakura arrived, holding out the scroll. "Sorry, sensei. We didn't calculate the time we needed to find the scroll."

"That's fine," Kakashi took the scroll, "it comes with experience. Now, wasn't that your first formation? Relay Race, was it?"

Sakura beamed. "Hai, sensei."

"Good idea," Kakashi mused, "but won't work for long-distance or unknown distances. It's good for inside Konoha."

Sakura nods, and a puffing Naruto and Sasuke walked into the training grounds, gripping their sides. Naruto moaned, "ugh, I need foooood. Breakfast seems like a miracle right now..."

"That's the next task." Kakashi grinned. "I want you all to go to Lightning Burger, the new store that opened two days ago, and I want you to convince the workers there that you're a totally different person."

Sasuke would deny it, but he was tentative when he asked, "any personality?" No, he would not risk disrespecting the scariest person he's ever met, the Hokage included.

Kakashi spread out his hands. "Surprise me. But tell me your fake names first."

"Kikitsune!" Naruto grinned. "Dattebayo!"

"Yellow fox?" Kakashi chuckled. "That's literal."

"Usagi," Sakura decided, "Usagi Pinku."

"Rabbit pink?" Kakashi nods. "Like your ANBU mask."

Sakura smiled and traced the outline of her not-ANBU mask, which was designed like a rabbit, whereas Naruto's was a fox and Sasuke's was a raven.

"Kaigun Karasu," Sasuke nods.

Kakashi let out a small laugh. "The yellow fox, pink rabbit, and navy raven. Nice. I'll see you after breakfast."

"Hai, sensei!" The three genin chorus, bowing. When they straightened, the jonin was gone without a trace and a swirl of leaves was the only thing out of place.


	3. The Beginning of Team 7, III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 is eating breakfast; Kakashi sends them on a D-rank (ahem, to catch a certain cat); Hiruzen assigns a future mission to Team 7.

Kikitsune smiled at the owner of the restaurant, taking the role of the oldest brother. Team 7 had decided to try and impress Kakashi, creating characters totally different to who they are. Kikitsune; the responsible, mature and oldest brother, was the easiest to decide. Then it was Usagi, the 'whatever, I don't give a crap about anything' punk girl, who had neon green highlights in her hair. And then it was Kaigun, who was the loving youngest child who thought his siblings were the best.

"Thanks so much," Kikitsune grins, ruffling the 'youngest family member's' - cough, Sasuke's, cough - blonde hair. The three of them agreed on the blonde hair as long as they complied with Sakura's green eyes and Sasuke's facial features. It ended up being a mesh of Uzumaki-Uchiha-Haruno, and to be honest, Naruto thought they looked quite different to their original looks.

The woman smiles. "You're our first child customer, of course we'd treat you with extra."

"Ani," Kaigun pouted, "what did you order?"

Kikitsune winked at his 'brother'. "Secret. Usagi, stop it."

To get into character, Sakura was psyching herself up by muttering swear words quickly like a rap and startling the other customers nearby, convincing the others already. Usagi peered up. "You don't control me, baka."

Kikitsune laughed awkwardly. "Well, at least you're normal."

"Hn." Usagi crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Well, at least you're still the same baka."

"Onii-chaaaaan!" Kaigun whined, and the rest of his team had to bit down on their laughter. But the two were also impressed at his acting skills; that was _way_ off usual Sasuke behaviour.

"Here you go," the woman appeared before them, "a bowl of pork cutlets, a bento box with sashimi, and an unagi rice bowl."

"Arigato!" Kikitsune beamed. "Itadakimasu!"

The other two genin were amazed at how their favourite dishes appeared before them, before realising they had all confessed the night prior due to Kakashi's meet-n-greet session.

"Itadakimasu!" Kaigun hollered like a child, before digging into his bento.

Usagi sniffed. "Meh. Itadakimasu."

"Don't be like that," Kikitsune reprimanded, "say thanks."

Usagi rolled her eyes but complied. "Arigato."

The woman laughed. "You reminded me, where's your parents? It's unusual to see children just walking around, even if this is a shinobi village."

The three genin all had their parts; Naruto was in charge of directing the conversation and setting up the whole look, Sasuke was to create the back story and rat off anything a child would, and Sakura was to deflect anything they couldn't answer. It was perfect.

"They're going to the Hokage!" Kaigun beamed, mouth full of rice. "Something about getting us into some shinobi classes!"

Kikitsune chuckled, ruffing his 'brother's' hair again. _Nice save, but shinobi? Not ninja?_ "Yeah, they want us to learn self-defence."

Usagi snorts, but Sakura knows not to overdo it, so she doesn't say anything and simply shoves another mouthful of eel into her mouth, before stealing one of Kaigun's salmon, playing the act of the mean big sister as Naruto jumped to Kaigun's defence and demanded she apologised.

"Nah," Usagi yawned, "too much work. Let me eat in peace, onii-chan."

Kikitsune huffs, before sitting down to eat his pork cutlet bowls. It was his second favourite, after ramen, of course. It was when his usual was unavailable - curse Konohamaru for that - and he had to suffice for a pork cutlet ramen bowl. It instantly shot up his food list, and he's ordered it one in a while to break his usual ramen streak.

"Eat with your mouth closed," Kikitsune orders, flicking Kaigun's forehead, "it's rude to eat with it open."

Kaigun pokes his tongue out and rolls his eyes, before shoving more food inside. Sasuke was internally flinching at his horrendous table manners, but he was told to act like a child and was _henged_ as one, so he will.

Suddenly, Sakura came up with a coughing fit, startling her two 'brothers', who mentally screamed 'that's not planned!' while trying to figure out what was happening. She waved them off, trying to convey the fact that she was fine, but Naruto and his fan-like side appeared.

"Ahhhhh," he fretted, "are you okay? You're not dying, are you? Sa - 'Sagi-chan?"

The rest of his team heaved a sigh of relief at Naruto's quick save before Sakura scowled at him when the coughing died down, eyes livid. "I. Am. Perfectly. Fine. Now go back to eating and leave me alone!" _You almost tossed our mission out the window!_ Naruto could hear the underlying message, and gulped, sitting down.

"Oh don't blame him," the woman smiled, which somehow unnerved Sasuke, but he kept it to himself. "He's just worried about his sister, that's all."

There was something off about this woman...Sasuke decided to investigate. "Ano, where do you come from?"

Naruto freaked. This was also not in the plan, and Sasuke was supposed to be the one saving them from questions and not asking them! "Kaigun-kun!"

"Oh," the woman waved a hand, "we're travellers. We come from everywhere, really."

Now Sakura was interested. "Everywhere, huh? What made you stay in Konoha, then?"

Was Sasuke and Sakura in some sort of secret plan they didn't tell Naruto about? What was this, a secret interrogation? "'Sagi-chan, apologise! I'm so sorry for their rudeness-"

"No no," the woman grins, "I like straightforward kids. Reminds me of me in the old days. Now about your question...it's safe. Konohagakure is known to protect its citizens to the core, even if it means sacrificing their top shinobi. Now that's somewhere I want to stay."

"Really?" Usagi yawns again, getting back into character. "Boring. Are we finished yet? Can we go find our parents?"

Naruto sighed in relief, but made sure not to show it. "Right. Sorry about the questions, they're just really curious! I really don't get them, dattebayo! I'll pay!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the 'dattebayo'. That was dangerous. What was Naruto thinking? But as the Uchiha watched as his 'brother' paid the bill and ushered them out, he realised that Naruto didn't even remotely think he did something wrong, the word just rolling off his tongue. Sasuke cursed inside his head. They were bound to fail.

Just as the three of them were about one hundred metres away from the restaurant, Kakashi appeared from nowhere and clapped Sakura and Naruto on the shoulder, with Sasuke in the middle. "So how'd it go?"

Naruto dispelled the _henge_. "Great! That was-"

Kakashi didn't even hit him; it was Sakura. "Great my ass! We completely flunked that!"

Kakashi nods gravely. "I agree."

"You watched us?" Sasuke shook his head, also dispelling the _henge_. "Of course you did."

"This was a fail," Kakashi muttered, "I guess I need to stop rushing everything. This was meant to open you up to your surroundings, and be able to easily read each other's social cues, even as posing as someone different. And I bet you didn't pick up on something about the waitress."

"Huh?" Naruto squinted. "There was something off?"

"Yeah," Sasuke nods, "she was hiding something."

"Something related to us," Sakura agreed, dispelling her _henge_. "It was obvious."

"Now," Kakashi looked them in the eye, "I asked her to keep an eye on you three. She's a retired doctor, a psychologist in fact. I worked with her long ago, just when the Third Shinobi War ended. Anyways, she was to give you clues on her being a suspicious person, and she did it perfectly, but none of you picked up on it until the last moment."

Kakashi sighed. "We're going to need to start from basics. I guess last night wasn't enough. Take a seat, kids."

Team 7 had arrived at a park bench-table, and slid into their seats, with Naruto and Kakashi on one side and Sakura and Sasuke on the other. Kakashi leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the table, and nods towards Sasuke.

"I have a question," Kakashi states, "why are you no longer sniping at brat?"

Sasuke didn't even need to ask which brat Kakashi was talking about. "...I had a change of heart...?"

Kakashi sighed. "That sounds like a question to me."

Sasuke runs a hand through his hair. "He knows about everything about me! That's why! He can use that information to do anything, which means that he was blackmail me or trade-"

"Do you really think I'll do that, teme?" Naruto stood up. "Just because I argue with you doesn't mean I'll do something stupid like that!"

"Oh yeah? Well I can't predict the future!" Sasuke retorts, standing up as well, crossing his arms.

"Can't you just trust me?" Naruto pointed a finger at him. "What's so hard about that?"

"What's so hard about that?" Sasuke sneered. "You're known as the monster of the village, dobe. Who'll trust you?"

"I would."

The two boys look at Sakura in disbelief, who had timidly entered their argument. Sakura looked up, green eyes suddenly sharp but warm at the same time. "We're a team. Whether we like it or not, we have to work together. And to be honest, I don't think this team is so bad. We worked really well this morning, remember?"

Naruto grinned. "Hell yeah, dattebayo!"

Kakashi nods, now the only person actually sitting down on the bench. "Your team is like your family. Treasure them."

"Family," Sasuke snorts, "is temporary. So are teams."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Don't let one thing define your whole world, Uchiha."

"One thing?" Sasuke let out a hollow laugh. "Well, _one_ person killed my whole family and left _one_ alive; me."

Naruto furrowed his brows. "Well at least you're liked. I have no family too and everyone hates me."

"Having a family who doesn't like you is worse," Sakura snapped, slamming her hand on the table. "What do you understand about being neglected but still have the same high expectations as your golden brother?!"

"Enough." Kakashi's voice cut through, and all three genin stilled. "What do you three know about hurt? I watched my best friend die in my place, my other teammate commit suicide via my hand, was ordered to retreat as my sensei fought in a battle and died along with his wife, being manipulated while I was grieving, and that's out of a list I could ramble on." Kakashi's eyes were steel. "We all have our personal problems that we are burdened to hold. Now sit down, and we're going to have a heart-to-heart without me interfering."

"Hai," Sakura sat down, followed by Naruto. Sasuke stood there, in a daze, before slowly slumping into his seat.

Kakashi nods. "Go for it. Let it all out. I have a genjutsu around, no one else'll hear us."

Sakura took in a deep breath. "Y'know when I said I became a kunoichi to piss off my family? It's because...my brother couldn't do it. He's the golden boy, I love him as my brother, but sometimes Mother takes it too far. It's always 'Riku this', 'Riku that', and if he can't do something, it's too easy for him anyways and I'm just tossed aside like a ragged doll-"

Sakura cut herself off, her breathing becoming uneven as she ranted.

Then she took a deep breath, and continued. "Riku tried to become shinobi, simply because they were well respected and had a good build, but then he didn't graduate from the Academy first try."

Sakura look upwards at the sky, smiling bitterly. "Then Mother ruled shinobi out, calling it a disgrace to all humans. That's...wrong. Just because Riku-ani couldn't do it, doesn't mean it's a disgrace to all human kind!"

Sasuke nods slowly. "So you become one to show your family that shinobi aren't bad."

"They hated me for the decision," Sakura murmurs, "and I said, 'well fuck you and your pretty little rules, I'm going to become the top kunoichi'."

"You swore at your parents?" Naruto gave her a thumbs up. "Show 'em who's boss."

Sasuke smiles faintly. "You're not too bad, Haruno."

Then her fangirl-side flipped on. "Really, Sasuke-kun? Thanks! Do you think-"

"My story!" Naruto bellowed over the top, and Kakashi winced.

"I may have a genjutsu on so it seems like it's just the wind and birds talking," Kakashi reprimands, "but that doesn't mean I can cover up... _that_. Quieten down, fox brat."

"Hai, sensei." Naruto bowed his head, before he cleared his throat. "Er, so, I'll start from the start. I dunno who my parents are. From when I was growing up, everyone hated me. And then I was five - or was I six, or seven? I can't remember - when Kyosuke and his gang appeared. I remember thinking they were drunk, so I hid, but then they were actually looking for me...and..."

Naruto gulped, not going onto detail, but absentmindedly rubs a scar on his neck. Still being dressed in not-ANBU clothing, the rest of his team couldn't exactly see where the scar was, but had a pretty good idea.

"So then it started happening every night." Naruto shrugged. "Sometimes he'd skip a night, but then it'll be worse the next night."

Naruto smiled. "When I was eight, jiji took me out of the orphanage - that's where Kyosuke would find me everyday - and gave me my own house. It was great! There was an actually bed and stuff, and now's it's better now that I know how to plumb a bit! The tap malfunctions once or twice a day, but that's nothing. But then...er...I think someone on my floor gave Kyosuke my address...so...uh...yeah. End of story."

"That's..." Sakura scooted over to give Naruto an awkward one-handed hug. "Depressing."

Naruto smiled brightly. "Thanks, Sakura-chan! So do you think you can go out with me?"

"We're going to talk about _that_ behaviour later," Kakashi cuts in, before looking pointedly at Sasuke, who huffs and turns away.

"I have nothing to say," Sasuke grumbles. "You all probably know my story already."

Naruto shook his head. "Na, I don't. What, you think you're so popular, eh, teme?"

"Shut it," Sasuke growled, "fine. Let's get this over and done with. I went training one day, came back late, and found my whole clan dead. And then I walked into my house, and then Itachi-nii stood there, with his fucking shiny sword and fucking red eyes and looked at me, and said, 'you're too weak to be killed'. That bastard!"

Kakashi glanced up lazily. "What did I just say about yelling?"

"And he-" Sasuke growls. "-he goes and says something about how I need to get stronger to even be able to face him so I'm gonna show that son of a-"

"Enough bad language," Kakashi interrupts, "and I think we all get it. So there. None of you are shallow kids without an understanding of hurt, so help each other. What did emo brat say? Something about family being temporary, as well as teams?"

Sasuke looks away.

"Lesson ten; people are never as they seem. Take Sakura; when you first see her, she's a spoilt rich brat who pines helplessly after her classmate. But now that you've sit down and actually participated in a talk together, you can say she's more than that. Much more."

"Lesson ten; people are never as they seem." The genin chorus, eyes glancing at each other, taking in each other's stories. They were all surprised at the depth of emotion they all had. They should be. As twelve-year-olds, they were still developing their emotions and maturity. But all three of them has had a burst of maturity in a time of need, and so they all act like young adults when they need to.

"Sensei," Sakura asked timidly, "you didn't tell us your story."

Kakashi smiled. "I know. It's a story for another time, when you need to hear it. I know I've been giving you lessons, well, more likes rules to abide by, but here's our team motto. It's from my past, one of my teammates told me that. 'In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' Understood?"

Naruto grinned. "Dattebayo!"

Sakura hesitantly agreed, and Sasuke kept quiet. Kakashi knew it would be easy for Naruto to abide by that, since he has no one to look after and care for, so to have a team is literally like having his first family which he'll protect like mad. But Sakura and Sasuke both know the pain of their family betraying and hurting them, so they'd be cautious before giving their hearts out.

Kakashi smiled. Who said it was a short process? At least he planted the seed; all he needs to do now is nurture it until it can grow on its own.

"Now," Kakashi clapped his hands and the genjutsu dissipated, "your next training session!"

"What?!" Naruto gasped. "Already?"

"It's only eight," Kakashi nods, "we have a whole day in front of us. If you're lucky, I'll let you guys off early today."

"Whoo," Sakura stood up, rolling her shoulders back and forth. "Alrighty sensei, what's next?"

Kakashi grins. "Your first mission. It's D-rank, of course." The jonin already knew what he was going to pick...let's hope they survive the cat chase.

**|\/|/\|**

"Yellow, in position, point A."

"Blue, in position, point C."

"Red, in position, point B."

"Good. Commence operation."

Kakashi lounged at the top of a tree, his shadow clones tailing his students secretively. He kept a watchful eye out for any white movement, his students still in not-ANBU gear. Kakashi's decided; it was going to be Team 7's official uniform. But it would be hard to wash blood off white...but the material is easy to wash. After all, they used it in ANBU missions all the time.

"Yellow, missed."

"Red, missed."

"Blue, contained the target."

"Good job wretches, come back to the starting point."

The three students tossed off their hoods - Kakashi instructed them not to take their masks, that would raise too many suspicions - and sighed in relief as Sasuke walked out of the trees, the squirming cat Tora in Sasuke's hands. Kakashi grinned.

"That's a record! You must be the first genin team to capture her on your first try!" Kakashi ruffled up Sasuke's hair and flicked Naruto's forehead. "Who told you to move so suddenly? You'll freak the cat out!"

"Gomen," Naruto said sheepishly. "Though we completed the mission!"

"Let's bring it back to Lord Daimyo's wife," Sakura says, and Kakashi mentally notes to tell her to either cut that stupidly long hair or tie it up. She'd probably tie it up, but it's better than have it flying around everywhere and could impair her own vision.

"Go for it." Kakashi squints at the sky. "I'll have to take that. Meet back here in fifteen minutes."

"Hai!" The thee genin disappear with their hoods back on, the black cloaks giving them a serious look. A hawk descends from the sky and lands snugly on Kakashi's outstretched arm.

The jonin clicks his tongue. "You're getting a bit too comfy there, Shimei."

The hawk ruffled it's own feathers, holding out it's left leg where a scroll was tied to it. Kakashi took it, unsealing it before opening it up. Shimei took refuge on Kakashi's shoulder, squawking tiredly.

Kakashi's eyebrows shot up. A new mission for him? Investigating this man called Gato because he publicly executed a man? Didn't the Sandaime know already that he was too busy teaching his genin? Sighing, the jonin made a sigh and called, " _Kage Bushin no Jutsu_."

Two copies of himself appeared. "What do you need?" One asked.

Kakashi rolls his eyes. "You know. You, find info. You, keep an eye on this Gato dude."

"Hai," both clones saluted before disappearing, and Kakashi cursed. Now he was going to have to teach genin while leaking chakra out at a daily amount. This wasn't anything new, but if the Sandaime wanted results and fast, he'd have to give Kakashi's time and no missions, which is pretty much an impossible thing to do.

"Oi," Kakashi poked Shimei, "go back to the Hokage."

Kakashi bit his thumb and swiped his blood straight through the mission scroll, before rolling it back up and tying it back onto Shimei's foot. "Don't be late. He might let you rest once you get back."

The hawk squawked loudly and took off, with Kakashi watching it until it was out of sight. Kakashi then thought to himself. He needed to get these genin to chunin standard by the end of next week. So how was he going to do this?

They needed to be proficient in taijutsu, and have at least two jutsus in their chakra affinity and one in the opposite. Oh, and a personally selected type.

They also needed to be able to work as a team flawlessly, as well as getting closer to choosing their specialised areas.

Oh, and also survival skills and learning how to sleep with their mind still active and being able to run for days without sleep - nah, that's jonin, but it's good to learn while they're young.

To get twelve-year-olds to chunin level within fourteen days was hard. Kakashi grinned. He liked a challenge. He knew it was going to be challenge when the Sandaime ordered for him to pass Team 7, but this was going to be fun.

Oh wait...they also need less obvious code names, as well as the number seven etched on their cloaks so the ANBU wouldn't be confused and the rest of the shinobi knew who they were. Not to mention Kakashi needed to work on their mental emotions and thoughts as well...

The jonin yawned. This was _hard_ , being a jonin sensei. Meh, but it was fun, and Kakashi was already proud at the fact that his team, probably the team that started off with the worst teamwork, now had the best teamwork out of all the genin teams. It was also a bragging right to the other jonin senseis.

"Sensei!"

Kakashi looked back and saw his three students running towards him. They also need to work on their speed...

There's so many things. And so little time.

Then another thing popped into Kakashi's mind. They needed their aliases! Their second personalities, and another profession other than shinobi. Kakashi was also Sukea, a photographer, as well as using his self-taught cooking skills to add to that image. He needed to get the kids to decide to pick something else up, not just being a shinobi.

"Mission report!" Sakura grinned. "Sakura Haruno, 012601, genin."

"Naruto Uzumaki, 012607, genin!"

"Sasuke Uchiha, 012606, genin."

Sakura beamed. "Mission success!"

Kakashi patted their heads. "Good job. This was your first mission. Now, let's go home. I've got some taijutsu training for you all on the way back. Naruto I want you to create three clones. On the way back, I want you all to piggy back one."

"Sensei?" Sasuke asked, looking uncertainly at the Naruto clone who stood in front of him.

The clone grinned. "I'm not that heavy, dattebayo!"

"Lesson five," Kakashi reminded.

"Never question you or your methods," Sasuke hissed, before allowing the clone-Naruto to get on his back. "Oh, you're right. You're not that heavy."

Kakashi grinned and undid the metal bracelets he had on his hand and placed them around each clone-Naruto's hand, making all three genin drop down to the ground with surprise. "These are weights. About seven kilos each. Have fun!"

**|\/|/\|**

"How is everything going?" The Sandaime asked, sitting at his desk.

Kakashi nods absentmindedly. "Yeah, it's okay."

"Is something wrong?"

"Why do you have more ANBU than usual?"

Hiruzen chuckled. "Nothing gets past you these days."

"You didn't answer my question." Kakashi pointed out.

An ANBU operative appeared. _Shunshined_ , Kakashi thought. "Hokage-sama fainted the other day, it's a precaution, Hound-sama."

"I'm not in the ANBU anymore," Kakashi smiled, "jeez, just call me Hatake. And you fainted, Sandaime-sama? Is your old age getting to you or something?"

The ANBU was about to to say something about disrespect - everyone knows that the Hokage's old, but no one says it - but the Sandaime simply chuckles. "It's been getting to me since I was fifty. Now, about the training, is it okay to give you a mission in the middle?"

Kakashi shrugs. "What mission?"

"It's connected to your Gato one," Hiruzen holds out a file, and dismissing the ANBU operative who _shunshined_ away.

Kakashi's eyebrows raise as he skimmed over the text. "An escort mission back to the Land of The Waves, hmm? C-rank, don't you think that's too high?"

"Tazuna's off," The Hokage simply said.

Kakashi nods slowly, before rolling up the scroll and placing in his jonin vest. "We'll take it. It's this Friday, isn't it?"

"Correct." The Sandaime put the pipe to his mouth. "You have three days."

"They'll be ready by then," Kakashi nods.

Hiruzen locks eyes with his right-hand man. "They better be. The Council's getting restless because I've been giving them mere D-ranks."

"The Council..." Kakashi cursed. "Those retired hags know nothing."

The Sandaime shrugged, before nodding at Kakashi. "We really need those kids up to the standard, Konoha's becoming somewhat of a target know. There's rumours that the newest village, Otogakure and Sunagakure are discussing an invasion during the Chunin Exams."

"We'll be in the Chunin Exams too," Kakashi reassures the older man. The Hatake knew that Hiruzen wasn't the type of person just to bring up with a rumour without concrete information, so he must've sent a spy somewhere. This wasn't reassuring. Kakashi really needed those kids at chunin, and fast.

* * *


	4. The Beginning of Team 7, IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto learns how to spin; Sakura gets good idea; Sasuke goes head to head in taijutsu.

Naruto grunted. _Tiger-Boar-Ox-Dog-Snake!_ He closed his eyes and thought to the kunai he had stuck in the tree nearby and opened his eyes to see himself right next to the tree, and the kunai in his place.

"Whoo! Finally!" He cheered. "Kawarimi no Jutsu complete!"

The boy furrowed his brows again, his hands practicing the jutsu movements. " _Kawarimi no Jutsu!_ "

Naruto reappeared in his former spot, before looking down at his scroll. Next...was a jutsu for his chakra affinity. That morning, Kakashi had dragged his genin out of bed, pleasantly surprised that they were wearing their Team 7 uniform and were sleeping in it, and then he shoved their scrolls they had retrieved a couple days earlier before being told to look through them. They were all practicing the substitution jutsu at the start - "What are they teaching you at the Academy these days? Back when I was in there, we were already learning D-ranks!" - before they would learn two jutsus in their chakra affinity.

"Futon: Daitoppa?" Naruto squinted at the scroll. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough...Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, Snake. Huh."

_Tiger-Ox-Dog-Rabbit-Snake!_

" _Futon: Daitoppa!_ " Naruto bellowed, inhaling and exhaling a huge gust of wind. Kakashi had written as a side-note on the scroll that results may vary, so if you got a huge gust, then your chakra reserves were large too.

Naruto grinned. "Well that's great!" Glancing down, he looked at the scroll again. "Ehhh?"

_If you got a huge gust (which is my guess), I want you to control it and get a medium and small gust.  
Hatake._

Naruto blinked. "Did he sign off with a scarecrow? Maaa... _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

A small breeze came out of Naruto's mouth as he narrowed his vision. The way he controls chakra was imaging it as a tunnel with a one way exit, and narrowing down the tunnel meant smaller amounts of chakra. Before Kakashi had let them train by themselves, he had, at five am, sat them down in a circle and told them to do Chakra Meditation. He told them to visual what they thought chakra was, and told them to contain it and focus on drawing it in and out. Chakra Meditation was perfect for beginners to control their chakra to its core, and so when all three of them got the hang of it, Kakashi shooed them off to go learn their jutsus.

Naruto grinned. "Now let's make it as big as possible! Whooo! _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

A huge gust similar to a hurricane's strength erupted from Naruto's mouth and ripped across the training ground, completely destroying one side of Training Ground Three. Kakashi appeared instantly, a kunai spinning in his hand, though the jonin had a good idea of what happened.

"Sorry, sensei," Naruto said sheepishly, "I wanted to make it as large as possible."

Kakashi sighed, tucking the kunai away. You can never be too careful. "Fine. Next time I'm setting you on Training Ground Seventeen."

"What about the trees?" Naruto's eyes widened in horror. "I don't have to plant every single tree right?!"

Kakashi chuckled, crossing his arms. "No, I have a friend who can do that. Now, show me your Kawarimi."

Naruto grinned. " _Kawarimi no Jutsu!_ "

Kakashi's smile strained. He didn't have to yell out the jutsu name...but it looked so normal for Naruto that Kakashi decided that this one time he'd let it slide. Next time, he'd definitely crack down on that.

"Sensei!" Naruto bellowed, from where he substituted with a broken branch. He was pretty far away, but Kakashi and his extreme dog-like senses could easily smell which direction Naruto was yelling from.

Kakashi held up a hand. "Good job! Move onto the next one!" And disappeared, _shunshining_ away. Naruto's hands flashed in movement before he reappeared in his old spot, the broken branch back where it was supposed to be.

"Huh," Naruto mused, "sensei has a friend to grow trees. Aren't I lucky? He'll most likely kill me if he didn't."

The next jutsu...Naruto's eyes bulged out. A _B_ -rank?! Now this was interesting. Futon: Shinkuha...and it did a lot of damage. Down in the corner, Naruto saw Kakashi's handwriting and quickly read that first.

_Each of your are getting a purely offensive jutsu, and they can fatally harm others. This is to be used in emergencies only, for example, when a teammate is about to die, or you are about to die. It can kill many people within a range, especially those extremely close to you. This must not be your first choice of a jutsu when in a dire situation._   
_Otherwise, have fun learning it and make sure you don't hit anyone while practicing._   
_Hatake._

Naruto hummed to himself. Rat, Snake, Horse, Dog. It wasn't hard to remember. Then he looked down at the next instructions, scrunching up his forehead in confusion. So he needed to spin around while doing the hand seals. Meh, whatever. Naruto was excited. He just wanted to try this out.

_Rat-Snake-Horse-Dog!_

Naruto exhaled, as he spun on the spot, and was just about to see the results when-

-he slipped while spinning and landed on his face, eating dirt.

"I guess I should practice spinning first," Naruto mumbled into the ground, groaning. "This sucks. I just wanna break some stuff!"

**|\/|/\|**

Sakura on the other hand, had easily gotten down the Kawarimi under her belt, as she had studied all E-rank jutsus. Her chakra control is the best out of the whole team, but her reserves are the lowest. Kakashi wanted to give her one that would change due to the amount of chakra she uses, to help her build up her reserves.

" _Doton: Retsudo Tensho!_ " She muttered, finding it easier to focus on her control if she whispered the jutsu name. She slammed her hand on the ground, forcing at least half her chakra out, pouring it into the ground and between her and the ten metre mark, the ground broke up into pieces, overturning and flipping over like they were broken ice blocks in a sea of water.

Sakura collapsed on the ground, heaving gigantic breathes. "Frick, I can't do this."

She groaned, falling onto her back, her chest rapidly rising and falling. A familiar face flashed past her eyes, and Sakura grit her teeth and forced herself to sit back up. She was going to show her parents that shinobi weren't disgraces and their whole world shouldn't be centred around just Riku. Sakura loved her mother and father, really, she _really_ did, but sometimes they were too narrow minded to see anything other than their perfect son.

"Alright!" Sakura stood up shakily. "I'm gonna show Mother and Father how's it's done! _Doton: Retsudo Tensho!_ "

She had bellowed the jutsu name, forcing as much chakra as possible into this jutsu, and for about the next twenty metres, the ground was upturned and the width was about another twenty-five or so metres. Sakura grinned, feeling exhausted. That was great. Training Ground Nine was perfect for her. It was literally a field of grass about two hundred metres wide and long, giving her huge amounts of space for her earth jutsus.

Kakashi appeared beside her, noting the dangerous turning rocks before turning to his student. "How's everything going, brat?"

"Well, sensei!" Sakura gave him a tired thumbs up. "Though...I may have...used up almost all my chakra..."

Kakashi sighed. "Kids. Never learn to keep some as reserve. Now, did you try the B-rank one already?"

"Hai," Sakura smiles, "that ones creates a lot of damage." She points to a crater behind her, and Kakashi whistles appreciatively. This training session was going almost _too_ well. All of them were progressing at a superhuman speed.

"You're doing pretty well," Kakashi praises, "take a small break. Maybe focus on mastering Kawarimi so you can substitute almost subconsciously."

"Hai!" Sakura grins, before flopping on the ground. "Gimme five first."

Kakashi chuckles, tossing her a bottle of water before disappearing, leaving Sakura in the blinding hot sun. The girl was already sweating from the extensive use of chakra, and now she had to deal with the heat.

She tiredly commanded, " _Doton: Doryo Dango._ "

By using mostly her physical strength, Sakura pulled out a chunk of the ground and placed it carefully next to her, straining her muscles, before huffing and sitting behind it, relishing in the huge shadow it cast. Maybe, she could just close her eyes for five minutes...

**|\/|/\|**

Sasuke wasn't tired. Not yet. He was debatably the most chakra efficient person in Team 7 bar their sensei - of course, with his reserves much larger than your usual genin but smaller than a Jinchuriki from activating his Sharingan since he was young, but never really used it. His control was also better, but it was practiced. He spent most of his time at home doing Chakra Meditation.

He suddenly flickered and reappeared beside a boulder, before muttering, " _Dendou Hari Hiirogari no Jutsu!_ "

Sasuke went through his taijutsu forms at three-quarters of the full speed, while focusing chakra onto his front, where electric needles slowly grew and when Sasuke was satisfied with its length, shot the lightning needles towards the boulder, carefully aiming for the 'x's he had scratched on earlier. He nailed all of them.

"There," he stopped his taijutsu, taking deep breaths in. "After a whole hour, I got it."

Now he was moving onto the second jutsu. Regardless of what others say, the Uchiha was a perfectionist. Have a jutsu your sensei gave you? _Must_ nail it before moving on. Flicking open his scroll, Sasuke nods slowly as he read the description and instructions that were handwritten on, with obvious scribbles here and there. That made it obvious that Kakashi was a lightning affinity too, with tips on how to reduce the amount of chakra needed for the lightning jutsu, and that came merely with experience.

" _Raiton: Gian_." Sasuke open his mouth, forming the Snake seal, and a bolt of lightning shot out of his mouth, very similar to a laser. Sasuke was also thrown backwards due to the impact, and landed awkwardly on his back. Hissing in pain, the Uchiha stiffly sat up, rubbing his hip. Now this was perfect. Any offensive jutsu was welcome into his arsenal; he could show off to Itachi before wiping off that smug smile off of the older Uchiha's face.

"Though I get why it's B-rank," Sasuke winced as he stood up, "the force...let's do that again. _Raiton: Gian_."

Kakashi watched from afar as he saw his lightning affinity student being flung around Training Ground Twenty-Two, which was a concrete-padded floor and random boulders stationed around the field, perfect for lightning affinity shinobi. All three of them were incredibly skilled and their adaptability to their new training ground was astounding. Kakashi hasn't seen anyone other than some of his outstanding ANBU recruits pick up new jutsus that quickly.

Kakashi looks down at the scroll in his hand. It had a big 'C' printed on it. Unravelling it, Kakashi rereads for about the forty-third time, the mission about the escort to the Land of Waves. Apparently Tazuna had wanted protection as soon as possible, but the Sandaime had responded saying that their shinobi ranks were deteriorating and that he had to wait for about a week. It wasn't exactly the truth, but Kakashi knew that more and more people were joining ANBU or retiring, which results in less and less normal jonin, which leaves most of the missions to chunin and genin.

On Tuesday, which was the first official training day, Kakashi had the team Chakra Meditate after arriving back at Konoha, also asking Naruto to dispel his clones.

On Wednesday, Kakashi dragged them out of bed at four am, mad at the fact that none of them slept in their gear. He then had to explain that lesson six also extended to sleeping. Then, for the whole morning until lunch, they ran through their taijutsu forms at half speed, before increasing it to full speed with Kakashi as a ruthless instructor. Again, at lunch, they were ordered to _henge_ as the opposite gender and convince the staff at Yakiniku Q that they were really who they pretended to be, which they finally succeeded at. Then after lunch, they took another D-rank, doing the housework of a particularly rich family. Kakashi told them they could only use one arm and one leg, and the three of them ended up leaning on each other for support. Dinner? Pfft, what's that? Team 7 went straight into the tree-walking exercise as soon as they arrived home at seven pm, skipping dinner and going to sleep at eleven, only to be woken up by Kakashi at five am.

Which brings us to Thursday, today. It was currently eleven am, and at eleven-thirty, Kakashi was going to call all his students back, deciding to let the three have a normal meal. Then maybe work on Sakura's taijutsu, Sasuke's Sharingan and introduce Naruto to the information on the Kyuubi after dinner. But now he was mentally tallying the jutsus each student had. They had all learnt the basic clone, Naruto knows the shadow clone, they could all use fabric of some kind to blend into the background, as well as untie themselves from a bound-state, but not bound by Kakashi's standards, so he needs to work on that. Oh, and of course, henge. Then they each had two of their chakra affinity jutsus.

They should learn a genjutsu each, but that would come afterwards. They need to perfect their current jutsus now, before their mission tomorrow. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. He needed to test them.

**|\/|/\|**

"Right," Kakashi appeared behind the three genin, "how's lunch?"

They were now used to it - even if it has only been two and a half days since they first met Kakashi. Sakura smiled. "It's good. Aren't you going to each lunch, sensei?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I already did. Ate some dango with a couple of other jonin."

"What's on after lunch?" Sasuke asked, shuffling around on his seat. Naruto was too busy stuffing his face with ramen, as Sakura and Sasuke had let Naruto drag them to Ichiraku's, after finding out they're able to pick the place they want to eat at.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Now that's a secret. I watched you all train this morning, good job on your new jutsus! Have you told each other your jutsus yet?"

"Nope," Sakura eyed Naruto warily, "he's too busy talking the heavens about ramen."

Naruto smiled, giving a huge thumbs up as he slurped up the noodles. "But it's good, right?"

Sakura nods, a small smile on her face. "Yeah, I guess."

"Now," Kakashi held up a hand, "lesson twelve. Always exchange information when you have time. It's astounding how much of a difference it can make if you know your allies' skills."

All three genin nod. "Lesson twelve; always exchange information when you have time."

"I'll give you," Kakashi hummed, "about ten minutes."

As soon as Kakashi finished talking and turned around to leave, he heard Sakura ask what the boys had learnt and offer to tell them her jutsus. Kakashi smiled to himself, pulling out _Icha Icha_ as he walked down the street. Might as well spend ten minutes with Obito, Rin and Minato-sensei if he had the time. At the same time as he _shunshined_ away, his genin team was quickly and efficiently exchanging information, taking Kakashi's lesson also as a warning.

Sasuke nods slowly. "Right, so dobe has the ability to create a gust of wind; the strength customisable. You can also spin on the spot and create blade-like gusts as your emergency jutsu."

The three of them referred to their destructive jutsu as their emergency jutsu, having read the warning, and decided only to use it when in an urgent situation.

Naruto nods. "Yup. And Sakura-chan can turn the ground into blocks and also pick up a gigantic chunk for emergency?"

"Yeah," Sakura blushed and tucked a pink strand of hair behind her ear as she turned to Sasuke, "you can create electric needles and shoot out lightning lasers as your emergency?"

"Correct." Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. "I have a feeling what we're doing next will test that."

Sakura nods, but then eyes her food. "I'd recommend not eating a lot...just a hunch."

Sasuke makes a sound in agreement, before placing down his chopsticks. Naruto, however, disregarded the warning until Sakura snatched his chopsticks off of him and started to reprimand the blond as Sasuke hesitantly paid the bill, not knowing if he should or not. But Teuchi simply smiled and brushed the Uchiha off, saying that 'any friends of Naruto's are ours' and letting them go.

"Let's hope Naruto digests quickly," Sakura muttered just as they were about to leave, not surprised at all to see Kakashi leaning against a wall nearby with _Icha Icha_ in hand. He looks up as soon as they exit, and smiles reassuring, which somehow sends a shiver down his students' spine, despite the friendliness of it.

"Now," Kakashi grins, "we're going to have trail battle. Against me."

"Here?" Sakura was instantly in a defensive mode.

Kakashi grins. "Lesson eleven!" He sang.

Sasuke cursed, leaping and flipping backwards to gain space between him and his sensei. _Lesson eleven; always assume something is happening at that exact moment, unless otherwise told._ Sakura and Naruto split ways, with the girl going to the right and the boy going to the left.

Kakashi nods, satisfied. "Good job. Now, I'm going to be a chunin."

The jonin-now-turned-chunin leaped forwards for Sasuke, who engaged his sensei in a taijutsu match, though it was evident after trading blows who was superior. Sasuke grunted as Kakashi's fist connected with his stomach, throwing the Uchiha backwards. Kakashi was relentless, throwing punch after punch, but refrained from _shunshining_. As they fought, Sakura and Naruto met up at the park, which was only just down the road.

"We need to get sensei and Sasuke to a training ground," Sakura comments, "to make sure no one else is caught in the crossfire."

"Hmm," Naruto nods, "and not Ground Twenty-Two either, because sensei's a lightning affinity."

Sakura hums. "You can do the most damage as a wind affinity, so we have to move to Ground Three."

"Sure." Naruto grins.

"But how are we going to move them?" Sakura murmurs, before her eyes set on something. That could work...but she couldn't underestimate her sensei. She knew that the jonin was holding back and fighting like a chunin for a reason, so she turned to Naruto, telling her plan.

The two teammates snuck around the blocks, before coming to a stop, right behind a fighting Kakashi and Sasuke. Sasuke was obviously concentrating hard, but Kakashi looked more at ease but let small mistakes come through, giving Sasuke some chances to get through his guard. Kakashi caught Sasuke's roundhouse kick and pulled the boy in to give him a flick on the forehead with a smile before pushing the Uchiha away, making him lose his balance.

"Wow," Naruto whistled, "I get why he's being chunin. We'll never beat a jonin."

"Not like this," Sakura agrees, before pulling out a bag of soft items. She looked at Naruto. "You know what to do, right?"

Naruto gave her a thumbs up. "Dattebayo! _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

A medium breeze came from Naruto, enough so that when Sakura opened her pouch, all of the leaves flew out in the wind, flying slowly towards the taijutsu duo. Naruto's hands flashed again, before he muttered another jutsu. Multiple Narutos appeared, and they all in sync called, " _henge_."

Now henged as leaves, they easily blended in with horde of leaves that Sakura had collected. Thankfully, many people had seen to evacuate the area due to Kakashi and Sasuke, so now they didn't need to worry about, but the buildings and belongings.

Sakura charged from behind, unknowingly infusing chakra into her fist, yelling, "CHA!"

She had punched Kakashi, who pretended to be taken by surprise - please, he tracked their chakra ever since he announced they were going to fight - and Sasuke clenched a fist of Kakashi's vest as they flew with a chakra-infused punch towards Training Ground Three.

"Good idea," Kakashi grinned, before twisting around so that Sasuke was on spot to get the most damage. Sasuke grunted, kneeing his sensei in the stomach, and Kakashi gasped softly before chuckling. "Playing like that, are we?"

"No rule saying we can't," Sasuke let go of Kakashi, pushing off the 'chunin' and yelled, "go!"

The leaves which had somehow ended up around Kakashi morphed back into Naruto clones, all armed with kunai. Kakashi grinned. "Good, you guys are working well together."

Kakashi expertly dodged all of Naruto's clumsy attacks, before mentally noting to work on Naruto's taijutsu. He was sloppy at best. But what chunin-Kakashi did _not_ expect, was to see Sakura already at Ground Three - now that was _fast_ and unexpected - and somehow was waiting for them to land. All the clone-Narutos winked and blinked out of existence, leaving Kakashi alone in the air, falling at a fast speed. Kakashi debated doing a wind jutsu to minimise injuries, but acting like a chunin restricted that. No chunin can do a jutsu of their worst nature.

He instead opted to land in a roll, but his jonin mind screamed for him to do something else - _anything_ else - because he knew what was going to happen.

"CHA!" Sakura bellowed, slamming her hand on the ground, upturning the area where Kakashi estimated to land, making it extremely dangerous to land.

He smiled proudly. They're getting there. They're getting to the chunin level.

But the one problem? They didn't account for Kakashi's jutsus. Specifically, his shadow clones.

 _Kage Bushin no Jutsu_...Kakashi multiplied and used one clone in the middle and pushed off of it, landing swiftly outside of Sakura's rock-turning area. His other clones did the same, resulting in five clones around his genin and one who died from landing in the rock.

"Good try," Kakashi nods, "you all worked together."

He sensed chakra coming from behind, but small amounts and a lot of them. He flipped over some, dodged some, but let some chakra hit him, and smiled to himself as he felt a sting and the area he got hit started to feel numb.

Sasuke stood there, puffing, arm outstretched and pointing to Kakashi. "Damn it, I thought the electric needles would work!"

"Good," Kakashi grins, "but you forgot, I've got experience with zapping myself with electricity."

And just as Kakashi landed easily on the ground, he caught Naruto's foot swinging for his face while also swinging out a leg to unbalance Sakura who attempted to creep up behind him. Sakura stumbled backwards as Naruto lost his balance. Sakura grit her teeth and was about to charge when one of the clone-Kakashis appeared.

"Kuso!" Sakura hissed, dodging clone-Kakashi's attacks. "You're good!"

Clone-Kakashi eye-smiled. "I _am_ your sensei and a jonin, even if I am a clone."

Sakura was so focused on dodging the fast attacks that she didn't realise until-

-she fell straight into another clone-Kakashi's hands. The two clones grinned at each other, right before Naruto let out a yelp and was flung towards them, and the clone who was fighting Sakura easily caught the genin.

"Thanks!" The clone yelled, to which another clone across the field waved.

Sakura huffed, deflating. "We're never going to beat you."

Kakashi shrugged. "So?"

Then Sakura's eyes went wide. "Naruto!"

The dazed genin looked clumsily around. "Eh?"

Sakura huffed, squirming in clone-Kakashi's iron grip. "What do you do if you know you're going to lo-"

Kakashi placed a hand over her mouth. Naruto blinked, before looking up at his own clone which held him captive. "Oh. _Oh_!"

"Oh?" Kakashi echoed, glancing down at the blond genin he had in his arms.

Naruto closed his eyes, and snapped them open with a growl. "Let go of me!"

Kakashi blinked. Then he realised.

"If not, I'm going to release the seal on my stomach and-"

Clone-Kakashi acted quick, acted like a chunin. He dropped the Uzumaki and leapt a couple of feet away, kunai in hand. The clone smiled. Of course. That was smart, on both of Sakura and Naruto's account.

Naruto growled at the other clone. "Let go of her-"

The two clones took a couple of jumps back, crouching defensively.

"Good." Sakura grinned. "Bluffing. Now we grab Blue and run."

"Run?" Naruto repeated.

"We're never going to win, so-"

"Speak softer, Sakura!" A clone called out, before darting forwards.

Cursing, Sakura glanced around before making a hasty sign and substituted with a flying leaf in the air to their left, and Naruto panicked and summoned more clones. Both Kakashi's clones rushed forwards, powering through all the clones, but in the end, Naruto had already substituted out of the place and when the two clones looked up, they were dispelled. The real Kakashi stood with Sasuke being held upside down from the ankle, grinning at the two genin who ran towards them.

Gaining the memories of his clones, Kakashi nodded, satisfied. "Good. Brat, good thinking. Fox, nice acting."

"Arigato, sensei." The two of them say in sync.

"But," Kakashi glanced at Sasuke, who had his arms crossed and was dangling in the air. "What about this emo brat?"

"Probably ditch me," Sasuke sighed, "it's the ideal-"

"No," Naruto shook his head, "we'll come back for him. Teammates, right?"

Kakashi dropped Sasuke gently, flipping the boy so he landed on his feet. "Good. Very good. Your jutsu use is improving, and none of you used your emergency, which is good. Now, I want you three to learn how to manage your chakra even better. I'll tell you why when you sit down to Chakra Meditate."

The three genin settle down slightly awkwardly as they moved around their various small cuts and bruises.

"Uchiha."

The boy looked up.

"Those electric needles are good. But, you used too much chakra to prepare them. You had about double amount actually needed for the needles, but since you had to manage them all in the one spot, you pushed too much into the one area. Not only will that make it obvious that you're going to launch an attack from the front, but it can also impair your own ability to fight."

"Hai."

"Uzumaki."

"Sensei?"

"Those clones. Nicely done, much better than before. But, you summoned too many. And that was too much chakra in the air, and any decent chunin would have a good sensory one to two-metre range. Those leaves were a nice touch, but you really only needed two or three clones. Not six. I'm guessing the plan was spontaneous, which lead to you not focusing enough to control your chakra."

"Hai."

"Haruno."

"Hai, sensei?"

"The chakra-infused punch. Well done. It uses explicit chakra control, which is something that you're getting close to. However, you can probably feel it, but you've most likely dislocated most of your joints in your hand. Chakra laced attacks needs extreme concentration and control, which you underestimated. Otherwise, I would've never expected it to come."

"Hai."

"Good. Now the three of you meditate as I get a medical-nin over."

"Hai!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, I just realised I wasn't placing any notes at the bottom of my chapters...sorry.  
> Anyways, a late welcome to my story Team Seven Brats! I've been writing this on FanFiction, and so now I'm proceeding to copy and paste all the chapters into AO3. I update every week, so remember to check in once in a while!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you like it!
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	5. The Waves Mission, I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 finally go on a C-rank mission (cough, LaNd oF wAvEs, cough); Kakashi becomes a scary interrogator; the Demon Brothers severely underestimate genin.

"A mission?" Sasuke looked at the scroll. "To the Land of Waves?"

Naruto grinned. "It's a C-rank! Yes!"

Tazuna stood there, annoyed. He had asked for protection ASAP, but had to wait a couple of days, and end up with children. "Are you sure these twigs can protect me?"

"With all due respect Tazuna-san," Sakura beams, "we're quite adept at being shinobi, and since this is a mere C-rank, we should be fine."

Tazuna turned a critical eye and the girl, but received two glares from the boys and shrunk back. Kakashi smiled. "Well, we'd better get going. The earlier we leave, the earlier we can come back."

"Hai, sensei." The three genin chorused.

Kakashi turns to Tazuna. "Give us half-an-hour to pack our gear. We'll meet at Konoha's front gate."

"Whatever," Tazuna grumbles, turning around and stomps out of the Hokage Office.

Hiruzen sighed. "He's an old fellow, don't be too hard on him."

The genin nods slowly, about to leave when Kakashi held up a hand. "Now, is there anything you've picked up?"

Sasuke nods. "There's something off about his behaviour. It's suspicious. Gives me the wrong vibe."

Kakashi nods. "And what does that mean?"

"Pack extra," Naruto mutters, "especially ninja tools and extra pairs of clothes. Bring lots of chakra too."

Sasuke snorts. "I wish we could bring extra chakra."

"That's it's not actually a C-rank?" Sakura says over the top of them, cocking her head to the side. "It's most likely we're not supposed to meet enemy shinobi, but we might."

Kakashi grins. "Good job. Do what Naruto says, pack extra and don't use chakra unless you have too. Now, I want you to wear your old clothes with the cloaks on top. If we do run into enemies, it's better they underestimate you than overestimate."

"Hai, sensei!" And with that, all three of them leaves via the window, leaping down the tower and landing lightly on the roofs of the houses underneath. The Sandaime sighs, giving Kakashi a pointed look. The jonin shrugged innocently.

"The window? Really?" The Hokage asked, amused.

"It's convenient," Kakashi defended, "and it's good for training."

The Sandaime chuckles. "That's true, but annoying for the person who owns the window. Now, I'd like a mission update on your Gato mission."

Kakashi nods. "My first clone was defeated quickly as its sensory abilities are dull but my second one's still reporting. Gato's locking himself in his room regularly from one pm to four pm, not coming out for the whole three hours. No one goes in either. He's been hiring shinobi - nukenin, and I think there was a rumour about hiring Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsman of The Mist. His goal is to control the Land of Waves, while also gaining an impressive income. I have a feeling that our Tazuna escort mission has something to do with that."

"What if you run into Momochi?" Hiruzen asked, nodding along as Kakashi reported.

The jonin smiled dryly. "I'd usually take a genin team and run, but this is about...the political pressure, right?"

"Correct." Hiruzen scowls. "The Fifth Councilman is pressing for results, as is the Seventh. The Second is trying to slow them down, but it isn't working. The rest are curious, but are patiently waiting, though I don't think that will last."

"And if the results aren't up to their standard?" Kakashi asked, even though he knew the answer. It was always the same answer.

"I will be pressured into passing on the Hokage title," the Sandaime's mouth pressed into a thin line, "and most likely, the Council will pick Danzo as a replacement. And all the other villages know about Danzo's shady work, they might turn on us. Not to mention, the perfect window of the Chunin Exams are coming up."

Kakashi nods. "Right. So if I meet Momochi, I'll let the kids run free and if they're about to die, I'll deal with him. Now, I need to get going. To prepare for my mission."

"Kakashi," Hiruzen sighed, "please don't do anything reckless. It'll be better if we have one shady Hokage than a dead genin team."

Kakashi wasn't sure he agreed, but he wasn't going to toss his team's lives on the line either. "Hai."

"Dismissed."

"Kakashi Hatake, 009720, jonin."

Hiruzen watched Kakashi leave, a heavy weight on the old man's shoulders. He _really_ didn't like pressuring Kakashi into bringing out excellent results, but he was the only person the Sandaime could trust with this. Not only was Kakashi's resume impressive, the man has also been in war and understood loss and the importance of having a good Hokage. The Hatake also knew what lengths Danzo would go to, and the ex-ANBU was the only one suited to hold all the classified information.

**|\/|/\|**

Wearing their old colourful ninja gear for the first time in days, the three genin had to admit they had gotten used to the protection and flexibility their Team 7 gear had, and now thought their old gear was impractical.

"See what I felt?" Kakashi ruffled up Naruto's hair when the boy complained.

Sasuke nodded. "This now feels so childish to wear."

"Agreed." Sakura shuddered, as she was tying up her hair into a bun. "Though we are bringing our uniform, right?"

Kakashi nods, holding up a scroll. "Who wants to safe-keep?"

The two boys look pointedly at Sakura, who spluttered, "me? But I always lose stuff!"

"I have no stuff to take care of most of the time," Naruto says, "and teme here doesn't safe-keep stuff. It's either let's use it or throw it."

Sasuke scowled. "Not _that_ , but something like that."

Kakashi hands Sakura the scroll, and she looks at it for a while, before slipping it into her waist pack, which was a new addition to store all of her extra items. It was crimson, looked tiny, but stored a hell lot. It was sealed by none other than Kakashi himself, and it could store up to five times it's normal volume. Naruto had a similar seal on his thigh pouch, and so did Sasuke. But the Uzumaki had the pockets inside of his orange jacket also sealed, as well as Sasuke's new fingerless gloves which had senbon inside, with many stored.

It was a welcome gift from Kakashi when he returned their uniforms the day after they first wore their uniform, telling them that even though it was childish and impractical when you wear it, it was good to wear while pretending to be children.

"You're here...early," Tazuna spluttered, arriving five minutes before ten-thirty.

Sakura smiled. "Lesson fifteen, always be wherever you need to be early by fifteen minutes."

"Lesson?" Tazuna frowned. "Let's just go."

Kakashi grins as he nods and lets Tazuna walk first, giving Sakura a thumbs up behind the old man's back before taking up the rear of the group. Halfway there, Naruto spoke up. "Er, Scarecrow, do you sense that?"

Sasuke tried his hardest to keep a straight face and Sakura hid her giggle with a cough. Kakashi rolled his eyes, before replying, "no, I don't."

Naruto nods slowly. "Oh. I must be imagining it."

One thing that Kakashi knew about the Kyuubi's influence on Naruto was that his range of sensing chakra was wide, almost as wide as Kakashi's. Even if Naruto isn't as thorough as Kakashi, only knowing that someone's close, not knowing what level of shinobi they were. But Kakashi knew. It was two chunin level shinobi who were currently coming towards them, making an attempt at hiding their chakra. They were quite good at it, but couldn't get past Konohagakure's top ninja and their Jinchuriki.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged looks. On missions, when someone said they didn't sense something, it's usually the opposite. The two of them already knew that their sensory abilities were way under both Naruto's and Kakashi's, and so opted to let the two be on guard while focusing on their mission; escorting Tazuna.

The old man was fidgeting, occasionally glancing behind him as if to confirm that Team 7 was still there, heaving a sigh of relief every time he saw them. But then he looked back and saw only Sakura, who was humming happily to herself.

"W-where's-"

Sakura smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, they'll be back."

Kakashi then waltzes out of the tree-line, giving Sakura a thumbs up. "Don't worry, the boys'll take care of them."

"Take care of what?" Tazuna started to sweat. "Who? Who's after me? Are they after me? You'll protect me-"

"I never said they're after you," Kakashi's smile turned into a glare, "and I'd like to know why the Demon Brothers are tracking us. Do you have anything to tell me?"

Tazuna gulped. "Er...well..."

Kakashi didn't look surprised as a set of trees set on fire behind him, not even fazed. Sakura whistled, grinning, and Tazuna felt a shiver go down his spine. This man was intimidating. "I don't have all day, y'know."

Sakura squints. "Sensei, are you sure they'll be okay? They don't know any water jutsus."

"Our opponents do," Kakashi reassured her, "and I do. The forest won't be burnt down, don't worry. Now, Tazuna, I really need the information. Or, we'll turn around and leave, because frankly, I don't think a team of genin and one jonin is a match for two chunin and their employer."

"It's just-" Tazuna freaked out. "It's nothing big! It's just an old feud between-"

"I said," Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he _shunshined_ right in front of Tazuna, using that dramatic appearance. "Employer. And you didn't react. Who's employing them?"

"I'd suggest you not lie," Sakura chimes, "sensei can be scary when he wants to."

"Er, well..."

While Tazuna was finding the right words that didn't seem too immature or disrespectful, Naruto and Sasuke were dealing with two chunin nukenins, known as the Demon Brothers from Kirigakure.

" _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!_ " Sasuke called, so Naruto knew what he was doing.

Naruto grinned. " _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

The second huge fireball was powered by the wind surge, which freaked the Demon Brothers out. They were supposed to be _genin_. Not freaking chunin disguised as genin! The two joined chakras and forced out an equally big counter.

Naruto landed next to Sasuke, both of them analysing the situation. Sasuke talked first. "Our attacks are the same strength, but since fire is naturally weak against water, they've got the upper hand."

"But both of our affinities aren't fire," Naruto continued, "so we can beat them up. Wind and lightning don't really have any sort of good or bad relationship with water."

Sasuke scowled. "Why can't Usagi beat them up for us? Earth is strong against water."

"Teamwork," Naruto pointed at the two brothers, "see? So _we_ work together too. T-O-G-E-T-"

"I get it," Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Stop treating me like a child. You're younger than me. Let's do this."

" _Kage Bushin no Jutsu!_ " Naruto hissed.

"You know you don't have to-"

"Shut up teme, I like the names!"

Sasuke sighs, knowing he couldn't convince Naruto otherwise. "Let's get this over and done with." _Dendou Hari Hiirogari no Jutsu._

Once Naruto saw the tips of the electric needles slowly forming on Sasuke's right arm, he sent out his clones to engage the two brothers in combat, biding time for Sasuke's needles. "How long?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Ten more seconds."

The needles worked like this; the user focuses on only one spot on their body to grow the needles, and when forming, if someone touches it, they'll be stung mildly. But if the hit's stronger than the needle itself, or it gets attack by someone else's chakra, then the needles disappear, which means the user needs to keep the needles safe and out of harm's way until the needles are ready to launch. Hence the reason why Naruto was buying time, wincing and cursing each time his clone was 'killed'.

"Ten seconds are up," Naruto said, glancing at Sasuke.

The raven-haired boy nods and leaps down behind of the brothers, delivering a kick and sending the needles right at his face.

"Ah sh-" The Demon Brother ate a needle, coughing and spluttering. "I 'an't 'eel me fa'e!"

"You're not supposed to," Sasuke grunts, twisting around and kicking the nukenin in the face. "They're meant to shock and numb you."

The Uchiha puffed, crouching over the ex-Kiri-nin who lay on the ground, and jumped back just as the Demon Brother's hand shot up to grab his throat. "That was supposed to knock you out."

"Lil' 'enin 'uff won' wor'." The Demon Brother grinned.

"Little what?" Sasuke taunted. "I don't think I can hear you right, is it because you might be an uneducated little brat?"

"'A'e 'hat 'a'."

"What? No, I seriously can't understand you."

"'A'E 'HAT 'A'!"

"...Nope, still can't understand you, you scum."

The Demon Brother roared in anger and charged the Uchiha, but the boy was simply buying time. "This time you'll pass out." A new set of needles flew from Sasuke's shoulder, tearing away his sleeve, and nailed the nukenin the neck and chest. It gave the man a terrible shock, and before he could even process the fact that he _couldn't feel his neck_ , Sasuke had already hooked his foot around the nukenin's neck and slammed the Demon Brother's face into the ground.

"That's enough," Sasuke stood on top of him, stomping on the Demon Brother's back a few times. "I think. Oi, dobe! You done?"

"Once upon a time," Naruto sang while dragging another unconscious Demon Brother behind him, "there was a boy called Naruto Uzumaki, oooo! He 'n' his teammate Sasuke-teme beat up these-" He threw his Demon Brother forwards. "-idiots! Whooo!"

Sasuke sighed, before pulling out rope from his thigh pouch. "Let's tie 'em up, you opera idiot."

"Opera?" Naruto grinned. "You wanna hear opera? Ready?"

Naruto took a deep breath in, but before he could shriek at the top of his lungs, Sasuke stuffed the rope in his mouth and opened Naruto's thigh pouch to take Naruto's rope. "Shut up already."

Naruto spat the rope out. "Jeez, no appreciation for music these days."

Sasuke rolls his eyes, expertly tying up his Demon Brother, before hauling the man onto his shoulders. Naruto hums while doing the same, obviously in a good mood. The two of them, covered in a sheet of sweat, walked back onto the open road, where Sakura was already pulling out medical supplies and Kakashi was asking - ahem, interrogating - some questions Tazuna.

"Good job," Sakura praised, but then whacked them on the head. "WHO TOLD YOU TO USE FIRE? BAKA! NOW HALF THE FOREST IS ON FIRE THANKS TO YOU AND I BET IT DID NOTHING BUT WASTE CHAKRA!"

Naruto chuckled sheepishly, glancing at Sasuke, and the two of them just realised that the Demon Brothers' counterattacks only deflected their fireballs, not completely snuffing them out. "It...also wastes their chakra?"

Sakura glared at him but wrapped his bleeding hand anyways, and cleaned Sasuke's wounded shoulder, which came from him releasing his needles too early before it had fully developed. Both of them dropped their hostages with a sigh, before waiting patiently for Sakura to do what she was doing.

Kakashi walked over, beaming, leaving a shivering Tazuna behind. "Good job, you two. Now, I have to go deal with _that_."

And when he said 'that', Kakashi jerked his head towards the raging fire in the background, a stormy look in his eye. Naruto squeaked. "Rabbit already scolded us! There's no need for you to do it too!"

Kakashi smiled at Sakura, ruffling her hair. "Good. Now, please excuse me." And, even though he was walking towards a fire, the jonin walked casually into the trees, looking completely at ease.

"He's..." Tazuna gulped. "Scary."

"I told you," Sakura remarks, wrapping bandages around Sasuke's shoulder.

"He's only really scary when you lie to him," Naruto muses, "remember when teme tried to lie his way out of punishment?"

"That..." Sasuke shuddered. "Was a mistake."

"A big one," Sakura agreed, before smiling and pulling away from her teammates. "There. Done."

A huge sizzling sound came from inside the forest, and Kakashi walked out moments later with nothing but smoke behind him. He eye-smiled. "Let's get going."

**|\/|/\|**

"Itadakimasu!" Team 7 chimed together, picking up their chopsticks.

Tsunami watches with a smile as her guests eat quite quickly, having gotten into the habit of eating quickly to be able to train more often. "Eat, eat! Thank you for bringing my father home safety, really!"

Kakashi smiles. "No, it's nothing. It's just our job."

"Inari," Tazuna reprimands, "stop stuffing your face like a pig."

The small eight-year-old pokes out his tongue. "Noooo!"

Sakura nudges Naruto. "Reminds me of someone."

"Not me." Naruto's response was impressively fast.

Sasuke nods gravely in agreement. "Yes, you."

"Done!" Sakura exclaimed. "Ha! You two now owe me two tips each!"

The boys grumble, but agree nonetheless. They'd bet each other's tips during training to see who eats the fastest, and this time, Sakura won, and now they needed to give her two tips during training.

"But-" Naruto pouted. "It's rice! You eat rice quickly!"

"What, like you eat ramen fast, and Blue eats dango and sashimi fast?" Sakura retorts, crossing her arms. "You owe me!"

"They might," Kakashi smiled, "but it's most likely you'll give them tips. We're going to be doing the walking-on-water exercise tonight."

"What?!" Naruto gaped. "But...sensei!"

"Lesson one," Kakashi deadpans, and Naruto instantly shuts up. "We're going to do it with a twist...we're going to do it with either freezing cold water or boiling hot water. It'll depend on my mood when you fall in."

"Depend..." Sakura felt a bitter taste in her mouth. "On...your mood..."

"Eat less," Sasuke hisses at Naruto, who pushes his rice bowl away from him, and smiles apologetically at Tsunami.

"It isn't your cooking Tsunami-san," Naruto gulped, "it's just...er...sensei likes to _surprise_ us when we train."

Tsunami watches, amused. "It's fine. This walking-on-water exercise, is it hard?"

"Not particularly," Kakashi answers, "not for them. But, one miscalculation and you go tumbling into the water."

"Good luck," Tsunami says, smiling as they excuse themselves from the table, and Kakashi leads them to a small pond in the midst of all of the trees. The jonin gestures to the water, inviting them to try.

Sakura goes first. Timidly placing a foot on the water, she took shaky steps on the pond, getting used to emitting chakra off her feet. She knew the theory and intention behind this exercise, which made it easier for her to try the technique out. Like Naruto, she imagined chakra as a force, but it was a fire for her, and the more she fed the fire, the larger her chakra would be. It was like two fire-points on her feet, and she was feeding them constantly to get them to hold her on the water.

"Good job," Kakashi says, "next."

Naruto runs onto the water, bellowing, "if Red can do it, so can I!"

-and broke Sakura's concentration, sending the girl tumbling into the water. Naruto also sunk in on the first step, not emitting chakra on his feet despite rushing towards the pond, and they two of them went under. To abide by his word, Kakashi placed his palm on the water, pushing chakra out and making the water extremely cold. Sasuke gulped, taking an uncertain step back. Sakura broke the surface first, her hair coming out, and her lips blue.

"C-cold," she stuttered, and Sasuke walked over to help her out.

Naruto came up, gasping for breath. "I c-can't-t f-feel m-m-me leg-gs..."

Sakura glared at him. "Baka! I was doing so well!"

Sasuke again helped his teammate, hauling the boy out of the water. "Dobe, you can't just charge onto the water."

"How do you do it?" Naruto pouted. "Tell me how, sensei!"

Kakashi smiled. "I thought you'd ask."

"Hmm?" Naruto waited.

Kakashi's face turned blank. "Figure it out yourself, fox brat."

"And of course," Sasuke sighed, "we're on our own."

"Not really," Sakura shivered, "I've got a good idea of what to do. Just imaging pushing chakra out of your feet - because that's what you're supposed to be doing - and it'll keep you afloat."

"Like..." Sasuke carefully stood on the water. "This?"

"Yeah!" Sakura grinned. "Good job!"

Sasuke picked up a foot and placed it back down in front of him, before taking another step-

-and face-planting into the water, which Kakashi happily made boiling hot, making the Uchiha yelp and pretty much fly out of the water, drenched.

Sakura chuckled sheepishly. "Er, walking requires you to continue emitting chakra on both feet, but you can lessen it as you lift your foot up. Don't just forget about your other foot, Blue."

"Of course," Sasuke nods, before he was hit with a breeze. It felt normal to Kakashi, but it was warm to both Sakura and Naruto, but felt freezing cold to Sasuke. Kakashi smirked. This brings back good memories...

_"How can you not do it? It's easy," A younger Kakashi said._

_Obito Uchiha snarls. "Yeah, well only for you, Bakashi!"_

_"Truely the golden boy of the generation," Rin agreed. "Now how do you do it?"_

_It was winter, and they were training on the cherry blossom lake, which Minato had happily melted for them to practice, but left the water freezing cold. The jonin was talking to another sensei up on top of the hill just nearby, leaving Kakashi to supervise Team 7._

_"You emit chakra from your feet," Kakashi said for the umpteenths time while walking onto the water with ease. "And once you get the hang of it, you can learn to lessen your chakra as you walk."_

_"Lessen whaaa?" Obito shook his head. "Gimme something easy!"_

_"Lesson one," Kakashi whacked Obito's head, "never complain. Now you're going to abide by those when I'm in charge."_

_"Freaking chunin kid," Obito grumbled._

_"Just imagine pouring out chakra from your foot," Kakashi mused, "or maybe not pouring it. Pretend you have like a tube on the bottom of your feet and it's thin and narrow, and it reaches the bottom of the lake. Now push your chakra through that. And don't stop, or you'll fall."_

_Rin nods slowly. "A tube...thin...push chakra...reaches bottom..."_

_"Hey, you're doing it Rin-chan!" Obito cheered. "Good job!"_

_"Am I?" Rin's eyes widened. "That's-"_

_Kakashi snorts as she falls in. "I thought we'd established that you had to continue concentrating."_

_Minato appeared suddenly, behind Obito, freaking the genin out. "How are we going?"_

_"Bad!" Obito complained. "Bakashi's the worst teacher!"_

_Rin was shivering on the bank of the lake. "Well, he gives good tips, but they're hard to follow for us genin."_

_"Lesson one," Kakashi mutters, before sitting down cross-legged on the water. Minato sighed, before walking onto the water. He holds out a hand for Obito to grab, and the Uchiha lets his sensei pull him onto the water._

_"Now I want you too focus..."_

"Sensei! I can do it!"

Kakashi looked up, seeing Naruto and Sasuke standing timidly on the water, not daring to walk, as Sakura was trying to jump from one side to the other without falling in. "Good job, fox. What's the time now?"

Sasuke squints at the sky. "Um...about eleven something?"

Kakashi looks up. "Eleven-twenty-four. Close. Now, you're all going to get a goodnight's sleep, alright? Then we'll try walking."

"Hai!" The three of them bowed, before rushing inside to the warmth, where they could take a warm shower and get rid of their shivering. Kakashi hummed, straightening, before walking up a tree and stood lightly on the top branch. He flexed his fingers, before calling for his shadow clones. They all knew what Kakashi wanted, and split up into trios and landed on a tree in each group.

"Group seven." Kakashi called. He always did that. It was always group seven first. As he fought against himself, he mused about letting Naruto do shadow-clone work. Now it would seem like a good idea, but would exhaust his chakra for a whole day when he first begins, so with the shadow of an employer who hired nukenin, that wasn't ideal. Maybe Kakashi would let him do it after this, to speed up his progress before the Chunin Exams.

Now about his other students. He couldn't teach them the Kage Bushin, no, they didn't have the characteristics of a Jinchuriki for the training to be effective. Sakura was already like a nurse, so some training in medical ninjutsu would be good. Oh, but then he'd need to ask the kids to chose what they wanted to specialise in. Kakashi smiled as one of his clones pulled a familiar roundhouse feint and instead shunshined behind him and a punch was on its way to the back of the real Kakashi's head. The Hatake remembered using that during one of his ANBU missions, earning the nickname 'Shunshin Trickster' in his current ANBU team.

Ducking and swirling around with his leg outstretched, Kakashi wasn't surprised to see his clone jump over his leg. After all, he was fighting against himself. But it was a sudden chakra spike that made him stop, holding up a hand. "Hold it."

A _henged_ clone of his stumbled forwards, clothes tattered. "Real me. Sup."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "What happened?"

"He's..." The clone groaned. "He's hired Zabuza Momochi."

"The Demon of the Mist," Kakashi muses, "and what happened?"

"Because I'm a clone and I'm _henged_ , I did minimum damage. He'll probably have a sore right leg for the time being."

"That's okay. Wanna be replaced?"

"...yes."

"Righto, team two number three! Can you take over this clone's job? Oh, and have the same _henge_ please."

"Hai."

Kakashi nods at the clone, thanks it, before it poofs away, out of existence. "Let's continue training."


	6. The Waves Mission, II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 come face to face with a certain nukenin and his team; Gato is a salty old man; Gaara has got some serious issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, this chapter isn't that well written, so it's a little disjointed - taken from a review on FanFiction. I agree with the review, so just warning you it's a little BrOkEn. Yeah. That's it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It was two am.

The earliest Kakashi had even gotten up his team.

"Wakey wakey," Kakashi chirped, "time to get up."

All three of them groaned. Sakura hid under the covers, Naruto rolled onto his side to continue sleeping and Sasuke covered his eyes with a hand. Kakashi's smile faded. "Oi, wretches. You've got one minute and I want to see you at the front door."

Kakashi _shunshined_ away, and his genin shot out of 'bed'. They all slept on the floor without blankets - despite Tsunami's protests as Kakashi explained it was for them to get used to it - with nothing but their cloaks over their old gear, but even if it was cold, they all abided by lesson one.

"One minute," Sakura muttered, bolting to her feet and combing her fingers through her hair. "Where's my headband?"

"Here," Naruto tossed it to her. "Teme, here's yours."

"Let's go before sensei gets mad," Sasuke murmurs, before opening the door, waiting for his teammates to ready themselves. All they really needed to do was put their headbands on, tie their thigh pouches on and crack their knuckles and they were done. Kakashi's lecture when they had slept without their gear on, which happened earlier in the week, had really gotten the genin into sleeping in their gear.

"Cloaks on," Sakura reminded them, giving the boys theirs as the three of them sprinted to the front door. Kakashi had managed to get the white number 7 etched onto their black cloaks before they left, and it gave the genin a sense of teamwork, unity and companionship when they wore it together.

Kakashi was there waiting, as was Tazuna. "Good job, brats. One minute."

"They..." Tazuna was speechless. "Actually came in one minute...that was fast..."

"Hai," Sakura nods. "Where are we going?"

"To the bridge," Kakashi replies.

"What for?" Sasuke's brow furrowed. "Our mission's done."

"We'll escort him to the bridge and then come back," Kakashi says.

Naruto yawns, before grinning. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Trust Naruto to have so much energy in the morning," Sakura mutters, eyes still droopy. "It's two am, baka. We've slept for _three_ hours."

"Why are we going to the bridge at two in the morning?" Sasuke asked, stretching as they made their way slowly through the mist to the bridge. The genin had no idea which way they were going, and apparently neither did Kakashi, so they all trailed behind Tazuna.

Kakashi shrugged. "He wants too."

"It's safer in the morning," Tazuna mutters, "no one around."

"You mean," Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "no one around to assassinate or attack you."

Tazuna doesn't reply. Naruto shifts uncomfortably in his orange jacket for the millionth time, and Sakura tugs at her skirt to make it lower, both of them still not used to wearing their old clothes. Sasuke, however, was glancing back at his Uchiha crest every now and then, as if confirming it was still there, but was otherwise perfectly fine with his clothing. Kakashi smiled under his mask. At least they liked their new Team 7 uniform.

"That's the bridge," Tazuna gulped. "See?"

"Nope," Naruto says cheerfully, "the fog's too thick. Are you sure we're in the right spot?"

"Naruto, blow it away."

"Hai, sensei. _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

"You don't need to yell it."

"But sensei..."

"Mutter it or something."

"Okay!"

As the fog cleared, there were four people there waiting, as if they knew Tazuna and his bodyguards were coming. They blocked the way to the bridge, all of them armed, the shine of metal littered around their bodies. Two of them looked familiar, one was famous, and another one was hidden behind a mask.

"The Demon Brothers," Sasuke hissed, "how are they here?"

"Easy," Naruto shrugged, as if at ease, except for his hand creeping closer to his thigh pouch. "Someone cut them free, and it isn't someone good."

"I'm sure that the road patrol was coming after us," Sakura grumbled.

"You're not wrong," Kakashi nods, "but they came before the patrol. Zabuza Momochi."

The infamous nukenin smirked. "Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Oh am I famous now? That's nice to know."

"Kill them all," Zabuza called. "Leave Hatake to me."

"Protect Tazuna at all costs," Kakashi orders, as the masked person - it looked like a girl, but the body shape said otherwise - and the Demon Brothers charged. The masked person, who walked with grace and looked feather-light, was an interesting contrast to the Demon Brothers, who were heavy and clambering towards the Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto grins.

"Alright!" He bellows. "Let's have a rematch, knuckleheads!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, pulling out two kunai in each hand. "You're the knucklehead."

"I'm taking that as a compliment!" Naruto replies, and the two of them jog to meet the two Demon Brothers, who looked all too happy to battle against the two boys.

"Sakura, take him."

"Is that a guy?"

"I think. Now I'll take Momochi, so be careful."

"Hai, sensei!"

Zabuza smiled sadistically. "Haku, rip her apart."

"Hai." Haku's voice was emotionless and the boy darted around Sakura, who's mind was analysing the situation carefully.

Kakashi closed his eyes, pulled up his hitai-ate, and opened both mismatches eyes, the red one swirling hypnotically. He was going to need this Sharingan if he wanted to be able to fight Zabuza Momochi, an A-rank nukenin and protect Tazuna at the same time. He trusted his students, he really did, but something felt off. The air smelt stale, the water was odourless - which was weird, because water usually _smells_ \- and Kakashi could smell the scent of snakes on their opponents. Something was off.

**|/\|\/|**

Sakura stood opposite of Haku, eyes alert.

Haku stood there, motionless, only the occasional twitch of his hands.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. She leant down, touching the ground, seeing Haku's eyes shine with alert as Sakura touched the ground. The Sakura shot up, bounding back a bit, and Haku did the same. The girl smiled to herself. So he didn't know anything about her, but she also didn't know anything about him.

"Shannaro!" Sakura muttered, slamming her hand on the ground, making the ground underneath them rumbled and turn upside down. Haku's eyes widen, but then jump gracefully from one stone to another, maintaining his balance.

He raised an arm, landing lightly out of Sakura's rock area. " _Hijutsu: Makyo Hyosho._ "

Sakura had no time to leap out of the danger zone, ice mirrors appeared all around her, but the weird thing was, they started to melt as soon as they were formed. Haku leaped into a mirror, appearing everywhere. Sakura grunts and throws a chakra-infused punch at a melting mirror, but did nothing but a tiny scratch.

"I'm not going to get out," Sakura muttered. "But they're melting. Kuso, if only Blue was here!"

Haku in the mirrors held up a hand, the melting stopped, shifting and blending in with the rest of the mirrors. Sakura's eyes widened in horror.

"I have now impaired your vision of your teammates," Haku smiles softly, "though they will hear you. The mirrors won't be penetrated by anything from the outside, it can only be destroyed by me or a large attack from you, which I highly doubt will happen."

Sakura growled. "Mirror _s_ my ass, it's a gigantic mirror dome!"

And it was. With the melting at the start, the mirrors had moulded into a totally different form. Instead of forming a makeshift dome using rectangular mirrors, all of the mirrors had connected and now created one mirror dome, completely surrounding Sakura, who couldn't see past the ice. She had no idea how the others were going, and Kakashi now didn't either, as Sakura and Haku were in the middle of Kakashi and the boys.

"I apologise if this hurts too much," Haku bows, and all of his reflections copy him. "But if Zabuza-san orders it, I shall do it."

"Fuc-"

Sakura let out a hiss as three senbon embed themselves into her arm. She closed her eyes, cursing her bad luck. She wasn't the fast one, no, she was the strong one. She had no idea what to do against Ice Release - isn't that a kekkei genkai anyways? - and even if she did, that mirror dome was practically invulnerable.

"You can just stay still and I can kill you with one shot," Haku suggested, in the mirror, as if he had never left in the first place.

Sakura grit her teeth. "Lesson thirteen, never give up." _This one may seem obvious, but since you brats need to hear it again, lesson thirteen is never give up! Understood? Now go do that taijutsu formation or I'll zap you to hell and back!_

Haku tilted his head to the side. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"You're not supposed to," Sakura grunts, "I am going to _murder_ you."

"I unfortunately cannot accept that," Haku flashed back and forth, nailing senbon at Sakura's exposed body. But some of them bounced off of her not-ANBU cloak, frustrating Haku to no ends. Sakura had used the cloak as a shield, covering her body with it as she crouched. She picked out the senbon, hissing quietly as more hit her. Sakura narrowed her eyes. There was no poison or anything on the senbon, so it was better to leave them inside her body to stop the bleeding.

Sakura closed her eyes. One of her traits that Kakashi had picked up on was that she thought like a Nara. She analysed the situation first, and if she was up against an opponent greater in power than her, her 'caution' switch would turn on and instantly be on defence. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but always being on defence wasn't good either. Sakura took in a deep breath, before standing up, letting herself be vulnerable.

If she thought like a Nara, well, she'll use that to her advantage.

**|/\|\/|**

"Nice to see y'all again," Naruto bowed before straightening quickly, "and I hope I don't see y'all again! _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

Sasuke watched from the side as Naruto's gigantic gust blew at a frightening speed, aimed straight at the Demon Brothers. But as Sasuke was about to launch forwards and defeat one with taijutsu, the two of them leapt to the side, their chain broken in half, not by Naruto, but it seemed like it was detachable.

"Whoo," Naruto retreated, "they're faster."

"Much." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Payback!" One bellowed.

Sasuke tried taunting. "What's your name again? Something that means ugly? Oh whoops, ugly doesn't even compare to you."

"It's Gozu, dick!" The man yelled. "And you're paying for what you did!"

Naruto sidestepped Gozu's attack, letting Sasuke deal with him. That left the other brother, and Naruto. The other man, with the gauntlet on his right hand, started to spin the chain menacingly.

"Dude," Naruto dodged all the attacks, but one managed to graze him. "You couldn't do that last time!"

The Demon Brother bared his teeth. "There's something called training."

"Kuso," Naruto cursed, "you use poison!"

Giving himself a good distance away from the Demon Brother, Naruto ripped a part of his shirt off and tied it tightly around his bicep, his forearm already turning purple from where he was grazed.

"It's Meizu, not kuso." The nukenin deadpans.

Naruto smiled cheerfully. "I never asked, scum."

Meizu growled. "Children are so infuriating these days, hiyah!"

Naruto barely dodged the flying chain, eyes bulging at the sight of the chain cracking down on the ground, creaking a crack in the soil. These nukenin had powered up, by a lot. A _lot_. The Jinchuriki flipped and landed lightly, still dodging attacks, not able to get close to do anything. Naruto blocked a chain attack using his kunai, but his blade shattered against Meizu's, and Naruto leapt back and his back hit someone else's.

"Is it just me or - DUCK - are they superpowered?" Naruto said, not even glancing back.

Sasuke grunts, his back against Naruto's. "Not just you. They're - they joined chains, be careful - way more powerful than last time. This guy couldn't even do decent taijutsu last time and now he's better than me."

"We're going to do our ultimate jutsu!" Gozu bellowed.

"Lesson eleven," Sasuke hissed.

"Got it," Naruto nods, before focusing deeply on his chakra, not even reacting when Sasuke turned around and leapt on him, clutching the boy tightly. " _Futon: Daitoppa!_ "

The hurricane-like wind blew downwards, and the two genin shot up into the air. Naruto had angled it so they would fly backwards, out of the danger zone. The two brothers had bellowed, " _Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!_ "

The water from the lake nearby rose up to meet the sky, and came barrelling towards the spot the two genin were supposed to be, but they were still caught in the water, having underestimated the attack's height. Sasuke broke the surface first, coughing and paddling towards the only orange thing he could see. And when he reached it, he cursed. It was just the jacket.

"Over here," Naruto called, coughing up blood. He had been slammed straight onto Haku's ice dome, his back severely damaged. "Ah, I think you're by yourself."

"Crap," Sasuke shrugged off his jacket and lay it over Naruto. "Heal as quickly as possible, dobe."

Naruto gave him a weak thumbs up. "I'll try, dattebayo."

Sasuke nods and stands up shakily, his eyes a red colour with a spinning tomoe. Even if he only had two tomoes in one and one in the other, it was still the Sharingan. The two Demon Brothers freeze at the sight.

"I thought they both died..." Gozu muttered.

His brother blanched. "Obviously not."

"I am going to _murder_ you." Sasuke grunted, applying chakra to the bottom of his feet, and bolting towards the nukenin without them even realising.

**|/\|\/|**

"So, Hatake," Zabuza approaches the jonin slowly, "are you sure your students can hold against mine?"

Kakashi eye-smiles again. "Yes. After all, they can definitely beat half-assed attempts at creating a genius student."

"Shut the fuck up, Hokage pet," Zabuza spat. "We all know that if it wasn't for the Sandaime's smothering, you'd be one of us."

Kakashi shrugged, shoving Tazuna back roughly as Zabuza advanced. "Maybe, maybe not. But here we are now, and I don't regret staying in the village. I get to take care of these three brats, see?"

"Well then die," Zabuza sneered, "Kakashi Hatake, known as the Hokage's spoilt pet."

"Y'know," Kakashi remarks, "the same insult usually doesn't work twice."

Zabuza pulled out his sword, leaping forwards to slice the jonin in half. Kakashi's face turned to stone. "But that hurt. I'm going to _murder_ you."

The nukenin faltered a bit, hearing the KI in Kakashi's voice, and the air felt charged with electricity. Zabuza's attack lacked strength, and so Kakashi easily stopped it, and twisted around to kick Zabuza in the face. He did, but then Zabuza melted away into a puddle of water.

"Using clones are we?" Kakashi smirked. "Right up my alley. _Kage Bushin no Jutsu._ "

Going into a full-on clone battle, Kakashi could almost feel himself in every clone, fighting as them as they fought against Zabuza's water clones. Of course, shadow clones were more effective, but with Kakashi's Sharingan out and having to keep constant awareness, Kakashi was losing the clone battle.

"Losing your touch are we?" Zabuza mocked, appearing behind the jonin. "Right up my alley. _Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu_."

Obito's eye easily copied the hand seals, and Kakashi dodged the huge water stream coming from Zabuza's mouth. The Konoha-nin slid to a stop on the ground, hands blurring together. " _Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu_."

Zabuza blocked the attack using his gigantic sword, which Kakashi identified as Kubikiribocho, one of the swords used by the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. It could regenerate if it could get a bit of blood, and Kakashi's wasn't planning on doing that.

"Tazuna," Kakashi appeared beside the old man, "run."

"Eh?" Tazuna was still processing the fact that he might actually die here.

"I said," Kakashi blocked an attack, before decapitating another water clone. " _Run_."

"R-right," Tazuna turned to bolt, when another Zabuza appeared, blocking his way.

"Oh hell no, I was hired to fucking kill you," Zabuza grinned, before swinging with Kubikiribocho, aiming for Tazuna's neck. Kakashi shunshined at the perfect time, catching the blade with his bare hands, blood leaking out from his gloves.

"I said run." Kakashi's voice was cold and left no room for argument. "Now."

"H-hai," Tazuna squeaked, running into the mist, blindly making his way back to his house.

Kakashi sighed in relief, locking eyes with Zabuza. "I'm going to kill you."

"Lovely," Zabuza grunts, before smirking. "But I'll kill you first."

Kubikiribocho regenerated from where Kakashi's multiple kunai scratched it, but what Kakashi didn't expect was it to continue growing and stabbed right through Kakashi's hand, aiming for his chest. Yanking his hand out of the blade and dodging the attack, Kakashi hissed as he felt his hand pour out blood. Now this wasn't good. Kubikiribocho had an upgrade, and who knew if Zabuza did.

"So close," Zabuza pouted like a child, "I'll get you next time, Copy Ninja."

Kakashi took in a deep breath, his red eye morphing into something different. "Not if I get you first."

**|/\|\/|**

"Sir-"

"Leave me," Gato orders, shooing away his bodyguards. "Now."

"But-"

"I'll have you killed," the rich man remarked offhandedly, succeeding in shutting up his subordinate. Slamming the door behind him, Gato locked it before collapsing on the ground, wheezing for air.

"Ah," a voice said from the dark, "you're back. And late by two minutes."

"I had to deal with-"

"Not good enough," the voice tuts, "you said it yourself, remember? You want power. And I can't give it to you every time you come late by a few minutes."

Gato coughed, still gasping for air. "B-breathe!"

"Ah, alright." The voice sounded suspiciously like it was trying its hardest not to laugh.

Gato breathed in deep breaths as soon as he could, and sighed and sat back on the floor. "It's only one-oh-two!"

"One-oh-three." The voice sighs. You couldn't even tell if the person was male or female, the voice was like a mesh in between. Gato thought it was what those ninjas did - some sort of mana thing, was it? - to be able to do literally anything. The rich business man always thought it was something like magic, but after hiring some, he realised that they really like killing people, well most of the ones he hired, and they only really specialised in one element.

"Sorry," Gato rolled his eyes. Then he couldn't breathe anymore.

"Who is it that came to me begging for money and power? Hmm?" The voice taunts.

"I'm s-sorry!" Gato choked.

"Fine." The voice sighs. "You need to go through stage two now. Have fun."

Gato's eyes widened as his neck starts to shoot burning pain, and his sight blurred. His tiny sunglasses fell and shattered on the ground, and he stumbled to his desk, sitting down and gasping for air as the pain shot through his system.

"Stop it..."

No answer.

"Did you not hear me? I said stop it!"

No answer.

"Fucking ninja and his tricks! I SAID-"

A spasm.

"STOP IT!"

Another spasm. No answer.

The shinobi watched from the shadows, looking quite happy with his work. He wondered why it was classified as kinjutsu, why forbid it when it does such a good job at making people suffer and force them into submission? This was interesting, and fun. Playing with civilians who thought they were incredibly powerful just because they had money - pfft, naive idiots - was just so much fun, and then crushing their hopes at the end was the best.

It just showed how weak people were.

But no, he wasn't going to be like that. He was going to be the best of the best. Invulnerable. Immortal. Untouchable. A god.

But first, he had to complete his research. Oh, and finish off Gato. Entertainment was soon going to be over.

**|/\|\/|**

Gaara was sitting cross-legged, making miniature war soldiers using his sand, forcing them to kill each other as entertainment. He sat on the rooftop of the Kazekage Tower, watching over his city quietly, and unnoticed. He liked being unnoticed. His father ever saw him as a weapon to be used, his siblings, even if they said they loved him, feared him, and everyone else treated him like a monster.

Not like that was wrong, though. He was a monster. A container with a monster inside.

"Kill," Gaara whispered. "Die. Unloved. No one misses you. Die. Die. Die. _Die_."

 _Boy_ , Shukaku hisses, _what do you think you're doing?_

Gaara ignores the voice. It's always been there. Sometimes right. Sometimes wrong. But it was a monster.

_I said, what are you doing? Don't ignore me, bastard._

"You're the bastard," Gaara muttered, before standing up. "I want to go play."

_No one likes you, kid. Just accept it. Go find someone like you then. Someone else with my kind._

"I don't want to leave." Gaara looked up at the sky. "I like it here."

_No you don't. Now shoo, your father's calling._

"I hate him," Gaara says stubbornly, but still drops down from the tower and uses his sand to enter the Kazekage's office through the window. The Fourth Kazekage wasn't surprised, not even looking up from his paperwork and tugging his Kage hat down a little.

"Sit."

"Yes, father."

The redhead sits down as his siblings file into the room, both of them laughing with each other. As soon as they saw Gaara, they quietened down and sat in their spots.

"Father?" Temari asked timidly. "What is this meeting about?"

"You will be attending the Chunin Exams in Konohagakure," Rasa said stiffly, "as well as infiltrating for our Konoha attack mission."

Kankuro nods slowly. "Okay, makes sense."

"All _three_ of you," The Yondaime emphasises.

"I'm going?" Gaara questioned. He was usually cooped up inside Sunagakure for 'safety' reasons, and while his siblings took on genin missions, he was just ordered not to rampage or do anything stupid.

"Yes," Rasa smiled sadistically, "you, our ultimate weapon. With you, we can crush Konoha."

All three children had no idea where this desire to destroy Konohagakure came from, but it wasn't like they were going to provoke him by asking. Temari then asked, "do we show our skills during the exam?"

"Not anything powerful," the Kazekage replied. "I want them to be taken by surprise. I want to see them scream."

"Okay." Kankuro nods. "So we basically flunk the exam so we can beat them up afterwards."

"Oh yes," the Yondaime grins, "understood? I want you to train thrice as hard as usual."

"Hai." Temari and Kankuro stand up to leave, with Gaara and Rasa left in the room.

Rasa turns to Gaara. "Don't mess anything up."

"Yes," Gaara leaves too, a heavy feeling on his heart. He just wanted to-

-he didn't know what he wanted to do. This wasn't new. Maybe he just wanted to kill some people. It's worked before for this heavy feeling. Sometimes when Gaara felt like this, he'd want to see blood. His own, someone else's, someone's as they die, it all works. Gaara hums to himself, locking himself in his room as he goes to the en suite. Standing there in the mirror, the boy suddenly wished he didn't look so much like his father.

"Sand," he cooed softly, and the sand sharpened into a knife and slowly drew blood on Gaara's arm. "Ah, makes me feel better."

_Bastard, stop harming yourself._

Gaara snapped, "it's none of your business, monster."

_Please. This is unhealthy, not good for you. I don't want to be sealed in some other worse bastard, okay? Just stop it._

"I won't listen to you," Gaara sneers, "deeper."

The sand obliged, and it was tainted a deep maroon as it cut deeper into Gaara's arm.

_You're going to hit a vein, bastard. Stop it!_

"I won't stop," Gaara smiles at himself in the mirror, "I won't stop..."

Letting the blood drip onto his hand, the Jinchuriki slammed his red left hand onto the mirror, the sound echoing as the red liquid slowly trickled down the glass. Gaara watched the red flow down all the way to the sink, marvelling at the beauty of the colour. When it was thick, it was dark. When it was thin, it was light. When it was dry, it was dark. When it was fresh, it was light.

_Jeez kid, stop it. I'm trying to heal you here._

"Never," Gaara smiled at himself in the mirror, the blood seemingly on his face. "It feels too good!"

_Bastard._

"Never..."

_Bastard. You could die. You know what? I could care less._

"I could die? Then maybe I should kill Father before I do..."

Gaara softly sang to himself, completely oblivious to the fact that the Ichibi had actually tried to help him. The One-Tailed Beast huffed, and swore never to help this ungrateful brat ever again. What was the Bijuu thinking, actually offering advice to a human? Those things knew nothing, except wanting power and power this and power that. Shukaku growled. Greedy humans.

"Chunin Exams...in Konohagakure...I can kill people there..."

Shukaku snorts. Not to mention his container is this half-insane child who had more bloodlust than the whole shinobi village combined.


	7. The Waves Mission, III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurama makes an appearance as 'a huge animal with lots of chakra to spare'; Team 7 finish up their fights; Kakashi ends up carrying all of them.

Naruto opened his eyes and found himself in some underground water system, which apparently wasn't great, with water all over the ground and was getting Naruto's toes wet.

"Ehhh?" The boy cocks his head sideways. "What's this place?"

"Seems like you finally found me," a voice said from behind.

Naruto whirled around to see the Kyuubi behind golden bars, front pawns crossed and a menacing glare on the fox's face. The boy gasped dramatically. "That's why sensei calls me a fox! That's why everyone calls me a fox! YOU!"

Kurama blinked. "Are you mad because of that?"

"Oi you," Naruto growled, "sensei told me about you. Tailed-Beast blah blah, I didn't understand anything but a huge animal with a lot of chakra to spare."

"A what?" This was not the reaction the Tailed-Beast was excepting. He was expecting something...more Minato-like. Like, charge at him with the intent to seal him back somewhere and liked to smile a lot as he was saying the jutsu that was about to take his life. But _no_ , the Kyuubi got Kushina-like. And even in the Bijuu's mind, Minato was better. _Much_ better.

"A huge animal!" Naruto squinted. "Are you half deaf or something? Do I need to learn sign language to be able to communicate with you?"

"Communicate?" Kurama leaned forwards, sneering. "No, no way. We here, are not in a partnership of any kind. You let me out, I won't kill you."

Naruto shook his head, grinning. "You can't kill me anyways. Oi, since you live here with me, you gotta gimme rent! Understood? When I want your red chakra, you give it! Or I'll never release you!"

The Bijuu snorts. "You won't release me in the end, anyways."

"Says who?" Naruto bellowed. "I, Naruto Uzumaki, swear to release the Kyuubi if I think he's not dangerous enough to kill anyone good or go on a rampage or destroy Konoha again or hate my teammates and sensei or he's my enemy but if he's my friend he won't be sealed anymore or if he tries to kill any good Konoha-nin or-"

"You talk a lot, kit." Kurama smirks. "Alright. We'll do that." _Not like the seal weakens if I give you my chakra anyways..._

"Don't even think about wearing out the seal!" Naruto beamed. "Sensei says he knows someone who knows the key to restrengthening it, and I'll learn it soon, dattebayo!"

Kurama hissed. He definitely underestimated the kid. "Okay...you've thought of a lot."

"Course," Naruto shuddered, "I had to sit down and learn all about you this one time when Sakura-chan got to do taijutsu work and Sasuke-teme got to work on his Sharingan. Not fair!"

Kurama growls. "You want my chakra or not, twat?"

"Stop being so mean to me! I'm your owner, y'know! I'm your container who had to deal with lugging you around, fox!" Naruto retorts, before giving the gigantic fox a thumbs up, which somehow confused the Bijuu at his sudden attitude change. "Let's do this!"

Naruto's vision swam and cleared, but this time he was looking at the dull grey sky of Saturday morning at two twenty-three am. He felt his ribs, and they were on the way to being healed. He felt his supposedly dislocated shoulder, it was fine, with a tiny sting of pain. He felt his formerly bleeding head. It was sticky, but no new blood was there.

"Alrighty!" Naruto hopped up onto his feet, unbalanced for a bit, but steadied himself. His hands creating his most beloved seal, with a smirk on his face. " _Kage Bushin no Jutsu!_ "

Naruto clones appeared, but their eyes were red and teeth were bared and sharp. Naruto blanched. "Look normal, jeez. Now let's go help out Sasuke-teme!"

The team of about a dozen clones charged forwards, taking Meizu head on as Naruto leapt down to help Sasuke, who was sweating a river and was puffing like he'd run a marathon. The raven-haired boy peered up as Naruto saved him from an oncoming attack. "You're late."

"Gomen," Naruto said sincerely, "the Kyuubi took longer than expected to convince to lend me his chakra."

_Oi kit, I'm right here you know._

"I know," Naruto nods, as he fights with new energy and manages to push Gozu backwards, making the nukenin retreat. "But please shut up so I can concentrate!"

"No promises," Sasuke said for Kurama with a slight smile, sliding past his teammate's defence and delivered a powerful kick at Gozu's stomach, making the man fly and land painfully on his back. The Demon Brother cried out in pain, rolling around. Sasuke pulls out his kunai and tackles him quickly, pushing the kunai against the nukenin's neck.

"I'm warning you," Naruto yelled, ducking under Meizu's chain attack. "You'd better stop or teme'll slice your bro's neck open!"

"You're children," Meizu sneers, "of course he wouldn't kill someone."

Sasuke looked coldly down at Gozu, who fearfully looked back up. "You hear that? Well, too bad. Dobe?"

Naruto nods. "Do it."

And Sasuke's hand moved, and Gozu's scream was cut short, warm thick red blood coating Sasuke's hands. Sighing, his Sharingan powered off and the Uchiha fell to the side of the dead Demon Brother, panting as the chakra exhaustion caught up with him.

"YOU-!"

"Eyes on _meeeeee_!"

Naruto's chakra-coated shuriken was thrown so hard at Meizu's chest that it came out the other side. Naruto blinked, puffing, before smiling slightly. "Thanks, Kyuubi-kun. You helped me out there."

Meizu looked blankly down at his chest, marvelling at the sight of his blood and the shuriken which tore through his body, before face planting into the ground, blood coming out form the corners of his mouth. Naruto's clones, which had all been defeated by Meizu - but had used up all of the Demon Brother's energy in exchange - were gone, and all that was left was an exhausted Naruto walking slowly to a Sasuke who was fleeting in between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"We did it, teme." Naruto sighed, collapsing next to his teammate.

Sasuke nods weakly. "Y'know, you're not all that bad, dobe."

"Same to you," Naruto grinned and held up a fist. Sasuke looked at it for a while, before huffing and giving Naruto a fist bump.

"That was a one time thing."

" _Of course_."

"...don't sound so smug."

"Of course."

"Shut up and let me sleep peacefully."

"Hold on, what about Usagi-chan?"

"Oh frick-"

**|/\|\/|**

Kakashi was in a similar state to Sasuke, both of them overusing their Sharingan. He was landing quite ungracefully every time he dodged an attack, but still managed to stay on his feet, like the capable Konoha-nin he was.

Zabuza launched forwards, swiping Kubikiribocho to cleave off Kakashi's head. But that Kakashi turned into smoke and the real one appeared behind the nukenin, a katana in hand. Kakashi hasn't used a sword like this in full-on battle since his old ANBU times because it always brought back too many memories, but always packed one just in case. The two blades meet, with Zabuza turning around with frightening speed. The Copy-nin was the first to pull away, his blade lighter and weaker, but much faster.

Zabuza could see that Kakashi was getting tired, but so was he, and he couldn't keep up with the Copy-nin's speed and small but multiple attack approach. The Hatake also always retreated after every attack, so Kubikiribocho's new morphing skill wouldn't work.

"Enough," Zabuza growled. " _Suiton: Hahonryu._ "

A gigantic torrent of water sped towards Kakashi, and the ex-ANBU captain just managed to escape unscathed, but wasn't able to escape the next one.

" _Suiton: Haidoro Panpu!_ "

The first thing Kakashi thought was that Zabuza liked the yell the names like Naruto before he was struck with the most powerful water jutsu he had even been hit with, and the jonin flew a couple hundred metres away, rolling and coughing up blood and unsteadily used his katana to stand up. It was a pity that his ninken was on another mission from the Hokage - which Kakashi found unreasonable, but wouldn't argue with the old man - or else Zabuza would be long dead and he wouldn't have to go through all this pain.

"Why aren't you doing any jutsus?" Zabuza swung Kubikiribocho expertly around. "Saving up for something? I'll kill you before that happens."

Kakashi coughed up more red. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Actually do it will you, don't just dream about it and do nothing."

Zabuza charged with a battle cry, Kubikiribocho twisting and shaping a totally new shape, which looked like a weird lopsided version of a shuriken on a stick. Kakashi sighed and blocked the attack with his katana, not even reacting when his blade shattered, but kicked Zabuza's stomach instead and knocked the nukenin back a couple of metres. Tossing aside his now useless hilt, Kakashi backed away, fishing inside his thigh pouch for something. Anything.

And pulled out senbon.

Very familiar looking senbon.

"Oh fuck it," Kakashi muttered, flexing his fingers and placing the senbon in between his fingers. The senbon shined a clear white, and Kakashi's mind was suddenly brought back to when Obito died. This was stupid. He was going to let down his team - _again_ \- and be the only one left alive - _again_ \- and there was probably no one left to help him. But the white glow felt warm in his hands, and the jonin of Konohagakure grit his teeth. Well he was going to die trying anyway.

Zabuza's water clone appeared in front of him, but Kakashi just brushed past it, identifying it using his Sharingan. Seeing the real one nearby, Kakashi used some of his reserve chakra and shunshined right next to him, stabbing the nukenin with his senbon right in the chest.

"What the-" Zabuza went into a choking fit, stumbling backwards.

Kakashi smiled sadistically. "Senbon created from the shards of my old sword. What was it called again? White Chakra Sabre or something? Too bad I didn't take care of it or else I would've embedded the whole thing in your pitifully disgusting face."

Zabuza ripped it out of his neck, thrusting it back at Kakashi, who skillfully dodged. "Imma kill you!"

"You've said that a tad too many times," Kakashi eye-smiled, but dodged Zabuza's swinging attack. Poking his hand back into his pocket, Kakashi yanked out more senbon and thrust the white metal straight at Zabuza's face, but was blocked by the twisting blade of Kubikiribocho.

Zabuza smirked. "Why not use Mangekyo again? Scared? Or maybe you can't?"

Kakashi cursed. He had used a strong genjutsu on Zabuza, which led to him almost killing Zabuza within the first five minutes of their match, but then Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan flickered off, as this was the first time he'd used it since he quit ANBU, and to be honest, he swore he was close to being blind from using it. But now...Kakashi leapt backwards, crouching down to catch his breath. He was bordering the thin line between adrenaline and chakra exhaustion, and the jonin did not like it.

"This is stupid," Kakashi mutters, "I need to finish you off."

Zabuza, who was also close to being completely exhausted, leaned against Kubikiribocho for support. "Same here. Just die, will you? At least your brats can say you died honourably at the hand of Zabuza Momochi. Oh wait, they'll probably be dead too."

"Fuck off," Kakashi forced his left eye back open again, despite his eyes already crying tears of blood. "Look into my eye, dipshit."

Zabuza laughs, but does. "What-"

"You wouldn't believe how many people have fallen for that," Kakashi mutters, activating the Sharingan.

Zabuza, who had no strength, fell to his knees, coughing up blood. "I am not going to fall victim to that-"

" _Raikiri_."

Zabuza mouth sprouted a fountain of red, before he looked with wide eyes at Kakashi, whose hand was still encased with lightning. The sound of birds echoed in the background, as Zabuza's eyes dimmed and he fell limp. Kakashi huffed, stumbling back, his jutsu turning off, the blue light fading as he hunched over, trying to back his breath. Then the Konoha-nin glanced back at Zabuza's dead corpse, musing at how that was a scarily close call. That hasn't happened in a while, and it was refreshing to the Copy Ninja at how there were other skilled people out there.

"Well," Kakashi sighed, "I killed you first, even if you whined about killing me the most. And now, I get to - _wretches_. Goddamn it."

**|/\|\/|**

"You're good," Haku murmurs, "but not good enough."

Sakura grit her teeth, trying her hardest not to think about the fact she looked more like a _porcupine than a human being_. "Oh really? Who says I'm done?"

"Look at yourself." Haku sounded like he was smirking, but Sakura couldn't tell because of the hunter-nin mask. She had finally identified his mask, in the midst of being a live target for Haku, not being able to do any damage to him.

Sakura smiled faintly. "You really do underestimate me, you think I've just been dodging this whole time? I'm going to send you to hell and back before you ultimately go to Satan. Come at me, baka!"

Haku sighed, before attacking Sakura again, his respect for the girl growing larger and larger. She was only genin, but was still standing up even if she was close to falling and accepting defeat. Sakura's eyes closed, and Haku's widened. This girl...she planned something. Veering off to the left, Haku aimed and shot, but was surprised to see Sakura poof off. A clone. Something embedded itself into Haku's body, and the boy jumped back into the mirror.

Sakura, who was somehow right in front of him, opened her eyes with a smile. "I hit you."

Haku looked down. "You..."

A shuriken was there, in his thigh, and warm blood trickling down his right leg.

Haku sneered. "Lucky shot."

He attacked. He ended up with a kunai stuck dangerously deep into his shoulder, more blood coming out, and Sakura was puffing, but otherwise unharmed.

"Predictable," Sakura mutters, a sense of accomplishment rushing through her. Finally. She could finally put her plan into action. Haku kept trying to attack Sakura, but the girl only countered but substituting herself so quickly Haku thought she was teleporting at light speed. She used everything; her own clones, discarded kunai, even Haku's senbon she sometimes tore out of her body to place all around the dome.

The nukenin growled and tackled her this one time, not even aiming for an escape route and pinned her to the ground. "You can't-"

" _Kawarimi no Jutsu_." Sakura beamed, her right hand forming the set of seals.

Haku landed uncomfortably on a set of his own senbon, and he chuckled dryly as he pulled them out of his stomach. "So you can do it with one hand."

"Blame sensei," Sakura was behind him with a kunai against his neck. "He's the one who had us do an E-rank with one hand."

Haku breathed in, calming himself. "Your sensei is a very good teacher, but annoying. _Sensatsu Shuisho_."

Sakura gasped as her body was used as a pincushion, water senbon flying towards her. The girl collapsed, but then smiled weakly. This was all going to plan. The Konoha-nin was surprised as to how this was actually working, but if it was, then she wasn't going to question it. Haku flew back into his mirror dome, eyes narrowed. "I will defeat you."

"Long way to go," Sakura commented, before seeing the step forwards of his left leg and substituted away, knowing that Haku was going to attack.

The boy cursed when he saw Sakura disappear. But he accounted for that. He was faster than her, that he knew. Much faster. And so when he twisted round to throw more senbon, he was surprised to see Sakura already having her cloak blocking that side so the needles bounced harmlessly off and she substituted away, out of harm's way.

"Left, right, right, right, right, left, centre, left, left, behind, left, right, right..."

Haku's eyes widened. "Is that...my attack pattern?"

"You bet," Sakura smiled, before she tapped lightly on the dome. The ice cracked, and the dome shattered on top the top of the duo. "Gomen, sensei. _Doton: Doryo Dango!_ "

She tore out the earth, hauling a huge piece of it and smashed it against the shattering dome, also sandwiching Haku in the process. The boy just managed to escape, but used up the remaining chakra he had left to substitute with a branch nearby. He huffed, his mask with a crack down the centre of it. Sakura whirled around, a shuriken already thrown, nailing Haku's mask.

"I wish you didn't escape," Sakura muttered, "because now I have to do taijutsu against someone like you."

Haku's mask fell off, and you could see an angry look on his face. "You..."

" _Kawarimi no Jutsu_!" Sakura was saved by that, as huge shards of ice burst from the ground, all aiming at her. Sakura gulped. Haku was supposed to run out of chakra...not gain more. Why else did the ice dome shatter if not because of chakra exhaustion?

And Haku stood there, frigid. Skin somehow darkened, Sakura couldn't see because of the mist, but it looked like some sort of fire pattern tattoo. The nukenin raised a hand, and thousands of water senbon raised with it, and Haku's eyes snapped open, and his wrist flicked.

The water shot forwards, and Sakura couldn't see anything to substitute with, and so she mustered up more chakra-

-but found she had none left.

"Freaking low reserves," Sakura hissed, pulling out two kunai. "Fine. You little-"

She stopped talking, blocking most of the senbon aimed at her weak parts, but her legs and torso was embedded with more senbon. Really, Sakura wondered if her teammates and sensei could recognise her now, looking half-dead and actually being able to stand up was a miracle. Sakura grunts, feeling her chakra flame almost extinguish, but forced more energy into it. If her teammates could do it, then she could. She didn't have a Tailed-Beast, and she wasn't an Uchiha, but she was Sakura Haruno, and that was enough.

Her flame grew to just enough for what she needed.

"Alright," she smiles, "let's do this! _Doton: Doryo Dango!_ "

**|/\|\/|**

Kakashi found Sakura first. Unconscious with a dead Haku underneath a huge boulder. She must've used her emergency...twice. There was another one that had a surprising amount of ice underneath it. Slinging her gently over his shoulder so he wouldn't push in any of the senbon inside, the man limped towards where he sensed his two other students.

The mist had cleared, as it was Zabuza's doing, and Kakashi easily spotted the two of them lying down at the entrance of the bridge. Naruto was chatting happily to Sasuke, who was nodding and humming as he tried to stay conscious.

"Boys," Kakashi walked over, placing Sakura down gently and sitting down himself. "Good job. Wonderful."

"Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, sitting up. "They were totally overpowered! Different!"

"I know," Kakashi nods. "I'll look into that. But on a good thought, I think I can get you promoted to chunin soon. If you can fight like that..."

"Really?!" Naruto beamed, before looking down at Sasuke, who was nodding off. "You hear that? We're gonna be chunin when we go back!"

"Uh huh," Sasuke mumbled, wincing as he sat up. "Sensei."

"We all need medical attention," Kakashi looks down at Sakura, "I wonder how she fought looking like a porcupine, Naruto, your arm is purple with poison, and Sasuke, I really need you to learn how to learn not to overuse that dojutsu."

"You overused it too," Sasuke pointed out, "your eye is still bleeding."

"That's different," Kakashi muttered. How do you tell a child that once you've gone through trauma, you get this thing called Mangekyo Sharingan, which is ridiculously overpowered, but when you use it, there's a chance you can go blind?

"Sensei..." Naruto paled. Someone was coming. Actually, more than one person. It was like a mob.

The jonin pinched the bridge of his nose. "We have the worst luck in the world. Naruto, you can use your emergency. You have the most chakra, but if you can't, I'll deal with them."

Naruto grinned, getting up. He swayed a bit. "I'm fine, dattebayo! Let's show those thugs who's boss!"

"Don't-"

Naruto ran off.

"-overdo it."

Sasuke snorts, settling back onto his back. "He'll definitely overdo it."

"Of course," Kakashi sighed.

" _FUTON: SHINKUHA!_ "

They waited. No more Naruto happened. Sasuke shot up onto his feet, wobbling slightly, ignored Kakashi's calls and limped forwards eyes morphing back into his underdeveloped Sharingan, looking rapidly for a knucklehead ninja. And there he was, surrounded by more thugs, even if half of them were decapitated by his emergency jutsu. Kakashi sighs, knowing that adrenaline was the only thing keeping Sasuke on his feet.

"Sasuke," Kakashi held out a hand. "Come here."

The Uchiha spun around, eyes wide with panic. "But-"

"I'm not going to stop you," Kakashi said impatiently, "come here."

Sasuke staggers over, before placing his hand in Kakashi's. The jonin wasted no time in transferring his chakra, which was a silvery white colour, and gave the remains of it - which wasn't much but contributed to keeping Sasuke on his feet - to the genin.

"Sensei?" Sasuke's eyes were wide.

"It's the chakra transfer technique," Kakashi dismissed it, "something you'll learn later on. Now go help Naruto."

"Dobe!" Sasuke whirled around, Sharingan flashing, and the genin substituted with his teammate and formed his hands seals. " _Raiton: Gian!_ "

Naruto gaped as Sasuke's laser tore through the remaining thugs and left none alive. "Teme!" The Jinchuriki ran forwards, but then thought better and substituted with a dead body and appeared next to Sasuke's unconscious body, which wavered on his feet and collapsed. "You idiot, you were supposed to stay back!"

Taking Sasuke back to Kakashi, who was attending to his hand wound which was still bleeding rivers and Sakura was all bandaged up, the man was not surprised to see Naruto carrying Sasuke. "You shouldn't tell him you carried, he'll be mad."

"I know," Naruto sits down. "Is your hand okay, sensei?"

"Is your arm okay?" Kakashi replies, giving the genin a look.

Naruto sighs and looks down at his purple-turning-brown arm. "No...what do we do?"

"We see if my basic knowledge of medical ninjutsu can help, or I get one of my old ANBU medics to come." Kakashi looks up at the sky. "Hopefully the former. None of the medics are that nice. They'll probably beat me up for taking genin on a C-turned-A-rank mission."

"A-rank?" Naruto muses. "Oh. I mean, if they were all overpowered, they were definitely way more dangerous."

Kakashi hums. "Seems like I trained you right. Now, I'm gonna carry you all to Tazuna's house. Can you walk."

"Datte-" Naruto face-planted into the ground, Kurama no longer supplying chakra and energy.

Kakashi sighed, hauling the two boys over his shoulders and carried Sakura in his arms. "Brats."

He limped away, leaving a devastated area behind. The ground was torn into pieces - not to mention Sakura's upturned ground area, and dead bodies littered the ground. Kakashi hoped Tazuna could forgive Sasuke for the gigantic laser slash through the bridge, and Naruto for the huge wind cuts in the bridge too. Meh, they saved his life.

**|/\|\/|**

"You're kidding," Naruto's mouth fell open, "we're still not done with this mission?"

"You can go back," Kakashi offered, "but I'm going to investigate how they got their extreme power boosts. The Demon Brothers don't have that kind of strength to muster up that ultimate jutsu of theirs."

"Nup," Naruto shook his head.

Sakura nods slowly. "We're going with you."

"Infiltration, right?" Sasuke smirks. "Let's do this."

"Hold on," Kakashi flicked their foreheads, "none of you know anything about actually doing infiltration. Go, tell me. What do you need to have mastered before you go to some rich gang's lair?"

"...a map of inside?"

"Good try, brat. Kind of. Sometimes - scrap that, most of the time you'll end up somewhere you don't know or don't have information on."

"Being able to blend into the background?"

"Good, emo."

"Ooo ooo, what about interrogating skills?"

"Yes, but we don't have time to do that. What's the most obvious thing?"

"Stealth!"

"Exactly. Now since all three of you are injured, you'll be Chakra Meditating until I tell you to stop. Sit here, in your room, and do nothing but meditating. Once I get more rest and chakra, I'll heal the rest of your wounds."

Sakura peered up. "Sensei, what do you specialise in? You know so much."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Me? Oh, I specialise in assassination. But that comes with a whole lot of other stuff, and the people around me specialise in different things so I just pick them up. Oh, that reminds me, think about what you want to specialise in."

The three genin gape at how casually he had said 'assassination' and he waved while walking away to his own room. The three of them exchanged looks, before sitting down in a circle and closing their eyes to meditate. But before they could, Naruto had a question.

"Shouldn't we kinda spread our specialised areas so we cover most of them?" He asked. "That would make it very efficient."

"We should study everything," Sasuke argues, opening his eyes.

Sakura hummed. "I agree with both of you. We can nail the basics of all of them, but then we specialise in different stuff. Y'know?"

"Let's decide!" Naruto beamed.

"This isn't a decision to be made lightly," Sasuke reprimanded.

Sakura grins. "I wanna do medical ninjutsu."

"Dojutsu," Sasuke echoed.

"Ninjutsu!" Naruto grinned.

Sakura shakes her head. "We can share that one."

"Fuinjutsu," Naruto thought for a moment, before deciding on that one. "Didn't sensei say that the Uzumaki were seal masters? I'm gonna become one, dattebayo! And reestablish Uzushiogakure!"

"What happened to becoming Hokage?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"I'll do that too!" Naruto grinned.

Sakura shook her head. "Boys. But can't we specialise in two? Or more?"

"Those can come later," Sasuke hissed, "we need to meditate or else sensei'll kill us."

"Right," Sakura nods. But all three of them were thinking as they meditated. They needed something that suited all of them. Thank Kami for their totally different personalities and chakra affinities or else they'd probably break out in a fight to see who'd specialise in what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, the sudden powerups for all of the nukenin have reasons behind them! Anyways, I hope you like my writing so far, leave a comment to let me know. Is it moving a little too fast? More/Less words? I'd open for constructive criticism!
> 
> PS, thanks a lot for reading. :)


	8. The Waves Mission, IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 goes sneaking around; Kakashi meets a man he wished was dead; Hiruzen gets a feeling that he's too old for this job.

A tall figure stood up in the dark, at about one am, wearing something he hasn't worn in front of his students before. The three smaller silhouettes peered up, looking up at their teacher. They said nothing, but waited for an answer. Kakashi tugged on his old ANBU chest-plate, before nodding subtly, not looking back.

Team 7 moves quickly, silently, using their chakra control to stick onto the outer walls of Gato's lair. It was a tall building built on top of an isolated island, surrounded by trees. It was just off the coast of the Land of Waves, barely visible to the naked eye when you stood on the beach. There were about seventeen floors altogether, and the group was splitting up the floors. Sakura took the lower five floors to use her earth jutsus to their best ability. Then it was Sasuke, who took the next five floors. Naruto took the next five, and Kakashi took the top two as it took the longest to get up there - and because he wanted his students to do most of the work, to give them a taste of infiltration.

Sasuke was the fastest to take up the silent movement during the first three-four days, but surprisingly it was Sakura who was fastest at learning the silent killing. It was great that they had a whole week and a half to train in this. Naruto, unfortunately, was not suited for this, but was better than the other two at creating diversions, and so that's what they were doing. Naruto was to create a diversion and draw all attention to him, and then Sakura and Sasuke will enter. And then Kakashi will.

_5..._

_4..._

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

_Commence operation._

Naruto slipped into level fifteen, making sure to deliberately tip off the window's alarm, before rolling inside and easily taking out the guards, who weren't shinobi. The red alarm turned on, blaring through the whole building, alerting everyone, including the rest of Team 7, who were waiting patiently outside and next to a window.

"That's...Konoha ANBU!" A guard yelled.

Naruto grinned under his fox mask. They were finally allowed to wear their uniforms and masks to protect their identities, and it felt good to be called one of Konoha's elite shinobi. Even if it was literally an assassination and tactics squad. He swung expertly around, dodging some person's pathetic attempt to nail him with arrows. Ah...the bow and arrow. Naruto frowned as he knocked out the whole hallway within a minute. Did Kakashi know how to use the bow and arrow? Probably. He knew a lot.

Once Naruto was inside for two minutes, clearing the fifteenth floor, Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances along the side of the building before slipping in through their designated windows, careful not to set off their alarms.

Sakura easily aimed her shurikens for the throat of all of the guards, finding that hers weren't shinobi either. Sasuke, however, was having a hard time getting all of them to shut up, as his level was dedicated people their age, which Sasuke theorised was for them to train to be the next bodyguards for Gato. Sasuke couldn't exactly kill them, but he couldn't let them assist their elders and so he proceeded to knock them out, which proved to be a nuisance and took up a lot of time.

"Just shut up," Sasuke grunts, whirling between them, knocking them out quickly but left a girl who looked startling like Sakura, green eyes wide. "You. Tell me where the bastard Gato is."

The girl growled. "Never!"

"Do it." Sasuke pulled out a kunai. "Now."

"No!"

Sasuke sighed. "I'm asking nicely. Please tell me where the bastard Gato is."

All he got was a rapid shake of her head and incoherent muttering. Sasuke grumbled, "I won't kill you if you do."

The girl was stubborn, which lead to Sasuke knocking her out too, before using his chakra wires - which were coils that could be strengthened by its user's chakra - to bound the door and windows tightly so they couldn't get out before silently moving onto the next room. Kakashi really needed to teach them torture and interrogation.

Kakashi was still waiting at the four-minute mark, his mind whirling with the worst possibilities that could happen to his genin. But he trusted them. This wasn't too bad, and his clone had only reported Zabuza and his team as the only hired nukenin. He just hoped his clone was right.

And...that was seven minutes. Time for the master of infiltration and assassinate to enter the plan.

Kakashi slipped into the top level, slinking in and out of the shadows, bypassing four 'elite' guards easily - how did he know they were elite? They had the letters E-L-I-T-E etched on their chest-plates - and killed them silently, not even their bodies falling to the ground with a thump. Kakashi had used his White Chakra Sabre senbon, nailing them quickly in the neck. He winced as he needed to throw three to kill one guard. He was really losing his touch. He needed to train, and maybe adopt a little of his team's thought process of 'must get stronger or else I'm not working hard enough'.

Unfortunately, the seventeenth floor was empty all except for shipping cargo of drugs and tobacco. Oh, and don't forget alcohol.

"Freaking bastards," Kakashi mutters, pinching his nose as he placed seals around the rooms. "Illegal shipping, and what the hell is this? Where did they get proxinea from?"

Proxinea was the infamous drug at the centre of Kakashi's first and largest drug case. It could give people hormones for ten days after one dose, as well as give then characteristics of any animal they like, as long as they had the DNA. And it was long out of production, now being banned in all nations. It could kill people who were addicted, especially those using it for a long time. Kakashi barely remembered being injected with it for this one time, and it made him feel like a god. Not to mention he had a wolf's DNA, earning him the nickname of 'pup' in his very first ANBU team.

"Well," Kakashi activated the seals, "no one's putting a hand on them now."

The seal was used so someone without Kakashi's chakra signature couldn't walk into the area within the seals, and that was the whole room. If they did, Kakashi would be instantly alerted and they would be paralysed. Ah, the wonderful inventions of Kushina Uzumaki.

Walking out of the room silently, the ex-ANBU captain raided the other rooms, no longer even counting how many people he had killed. Room one had proxinea, room two also had proxinea, room three had the highest-priced tobacco, and room four had at least two decades old of whiskey.

Kakashi stood at the top of the staircase, looking down. "Where the hell did they get all this good stuff?"

He could barely see down the pitch dark staircase, but the red alarms from Naruto's level was painfully obvious. Kakashi chuckled as he heard Naruto's footstep speed down the stairs, followed by the boy's yelling taunts and the rest of the guards clambering to follow him.

"Oi, come and get me, you insufferable set of nagging children who can't do a single freaking toddler thing!"

Kakashi winced. He also needed to work on taunts. But it worked, and Kakashi was easily able to blend in his footsteps with the ones downstairs. Arriving at the sixteenth level, he wasn't surprised to see the door locked firmly shut due to Naruto's distraction, and easily knocked it down with a good chakra kick.

"INTRUDER!"

Kakashi eye-smiled. He was the only one not wearing the ANBU mask or cloak. His cloak was the jonin-designed one, black and was just used to cover the back, and his mask was his usual one to cover up the lower half of his face. There was no point in protecting his identity; in the Bingo Book, he's labeled as HOUND/COPY NINJA as an S-rank assassin with his profile picture being a blurred one with the only visible is his signature gravity-defying hair.

And you can't get rid of the hair.

Nope, Kakashi will murder whoever wants to put a wig on him or get him to dye his hair.

"Hi," Kakashi waves, before appearing beside the first two guards and slicing their necks open without so much of a warning, dodging the slowest attacks Kakashi has ever seen from bodyguards - actually, he remembered that time he was sent to assassinate the Fire daimyo's second cousin thrice removed, her bodyguards were just lazy asses - and killed all nine guards in a flash. He clapped his hands together, admiring his work, before kicking down a particularly fancy door.

Nothing was inside. Nothing _alive_. Well, Kakashi didn't think it was alive.

The jonin steps inside, seeing something rather familiar. It was a simple table in the centre of the room, a desk to the left corner, and a bed to the right corner. On the table, there was a body, covered with white sheets. Taking a moment to check the pulse of the body, Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Dead.

"Good reflexes," a voice drawled.

Kakashi had dodged almost inhumanely fast, barely surviving an attack. A sword was thrown with so much force that the table split in half and shattered. Kakashi wasn't surprised, even if the table was made out of stone. Because opposite him, in the doorway, looking so freaking casual despite Kakashi being Konoha top ninja, was-

Kakashi ducked and twisted in the air, snakes shooting out and attempting to bite him.

-Orochimaru, the snake Sannin.

"Fast," Orochimaru muses, "have I underestimated you? You certainly have grown, Hatake pup."

Kakashi doesn't react to the nickname. "Aw, thanks. Now I'd like to know why you, a renowned nukenin, is doing here, in the Land of Waves."

Orochimaru smiles slyly. "Isn't that what you'd do if you're bored? Pick a fight somewhere else where no one'll know?"

"No." Kakashi looks at the Sannin blankly. "I'd go talk to Gai. He certainly makes my life a whole lot more interesting."

Orochimaru barks out a laugh, before his emotions sober and he approaches Kakashi slowly. The Konoha-nin stands there, looking casual, but both men knew that the other was definitely on their guard and wouldn't hesitate to strike. It was obvious, some time ago, that Orochimaru was stronger. But now the Sannin looks the son of the White Fang in the eye, and sees a much stronger man and is definitely not going to let down his guard around the ex-ANBU captain.

"Have you been experimenting again?" Kakashi asked offhandedly.

Orochimaru glares at him pleasantly. "None of your business."

"Well?" Kakashi eye-smiled. "You want to tell me something, don't you?"

Orochimaru sneers. "I have a message for the Sandaime. Tell him to keep an eye out for his safety."

"The Sandaime?" Kakashi levels Orochimaru's cold glare with his own, and after years of being in the ANBU, he's perfected that glare. "I'm sorry, why don't you tell him yourself? Scared?"

"Oh, just to keep the sense of mystery and I like using you as a pawn," Orochimaru smirks, before walking past Kakashi and opening the window. "I'll best be going. I do hope you did like the Momochi entertainment I supplied. Was that enough to boost your little cute genin team?"

Kakashi snorts, throwing a kunai. "I'm the only one who gets to call them cute."

Orochimaru barely catches it, blood trickling down the ex-Konoha-nin's fingers. "Very well."

Kakashi knew he couldn't pursue the Sannin. There was a whole lot of risks with just holding a conversation with the traitor, not to mention he had a genin team downstairs infiltrating Gato-turned-Orochimaru's lair. Kakashi needed to get them out, and fast. Orochimaru turned around to leave, narrowing his eyes.

"I'll leave this," he drops the kunai, wiping the blade clean using his purple robes, before disappearing out of the room. Kakashi wonders if the sixteenth floor is high enough of a fall to fatally wound the Sannin, but snorts. This was Orochimaru they were talking about. Power-hungry little self-centred bitch.

Exiting the room, but not before also sealing that room, Kakashi walks out, not caring about his loud footsteps. He needed to get the rest of the sixteenth floor cleared, before checking up on his genin. Speeding through the floor, Kakashi found nothing but more drugs - now how they got sehtis was a complete mystery, and needed to be looked into - and found himself close to running out of seals. He really didn't want to draw them on manually with chakra.

"Brat," Kakashi _shunshined_ to Sakura's side to find her lounging on the fifth floor while filing her nails with a kunai.

Sakura looked up. "Sensei! Levels one to five are clear."

"I can tell," Kakashi said dryly. "Now, let's head up."

"Hai!" Sakura stood up, looking unrecognisable with her hood and mask on. The two of them walked silently up the stairs, passing the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth floor. There was Sasuke, on level ten, swiftly breaking the neck of the last guard.

Kakashi nods slowly. "You had the most to take care off."

Sasuke sighed, standing up slowly. "I know. There was way more than normal, even more than dobe, probably. Maybe he walked into a trap and they went down to check on the kids."

"Kids?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke jerked his head backwards. "Second last door. Room full of people our age."

"Really?" Kakashi mused. "There's a lot of shady things going on inside of here. Proxinea, sehtis, tobacco, alcohol, traitor, and now kids?"

Sasuke simply shrugs, walking over to stand by Kakashi and Sakura. "I have no idea what's going on."

"Gato not here?" Kakashi asked, changing the subject. Sasuke shook his head.

"Must've been on Naruto's levels," Sakura says, just before the floor above them crashed open and a Naruto strangling Gato burst through the floor. Again, Gato's skin was patterned with black tattoos, like the one Sakrua saw on Haku.

Naruto snarled, obviously concentrating. "Freaking bastard-"

Kakashi threw Naruto off Gato, tossing his student out of the way. "The Cursed Seal of Heaven. Back off...I should've known."

"The what of what?" Naruto gasped for breath, leaning heavily on Sasuke and Sakura, who had been on the receiving side of Kakashi's toss.

"Anko Mitarashi has it," Kakashi says casually as he fights against stage two, cringing in disgust as Gato grew limb-like wings. "All jonin have been briefed as to what to do when she goes out of control. It's a cursed seal-" Kakashi cut himself off to deliver a chakra-infused punch into Gato's abdomen. "-created by Orochimaru, to give his subjects-" He dodged Gato's swinging attack. "-more power but gives him more control over them."

Kakashi huffs, delivering a powerful kick to Gato's face, completely knocking out the man. "But it's not effective on civis, the people who know nothing about power, chakra and taijutsu."

His three students gape. "You just..." Naruto gulped. "You just gave us a lecture on that seal while fighting against Orochimaru's subordinate."

"Play-toy," Kakashi corrected, "if it was actually Orochimaru's subordinate, I might have to get serious like when I fought Zabuza."

Sakura then remembered. "Sensei! Haku also had a mark like that!"

"Of course," Kakashi growled, "entertainment. That's why...power-ups...frick. That wretched little-" Kakashi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's go. The Land of Waves'll clean this up if we give Tazuna the details and he brings it to the daimyo."

"Hai," the three genin bow, before turning to each other, knowing they all had a smile on their faces. Their first infiltration mission was a success.

**|/\|\/|**

Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari all waiting impatiently for the shinobi to return.

They had left the earlier night at seven pm to walk across the water to get to Gato's island. As it was quite a far way for beginners to walk on water, Kakashi had planned for them to leave early - at least it was winter, so it was already pitch black at seven - so they could rest inside the surrounding forest. And now it was seven pm again, an exact twenty-four hours later.

"Are they..." Inari wiped at his eyes. "I'm not crying! Are they going to come back?"

"I hope," Tsunami kisses her son's forehead.

"Pfft," Tazuna sounded unsure himself, "obviously they will."

"They're doing so much for us," Tsunami whispered, patting Inari's head. "How will we repay them?"

"You don't need to, Tsunami-san!" Naruto chirped, walking out of the mist with a bright smile. "We're back! Have you been crying, Inari?"

"N-no!" Inari protested, but then ran forwards to give Naruto a hug. "T-thanks, for dealing with Gato."

"You mean this old lump here?" Sakura groaned, throwing Gato down on the ground. "I had to lug him on the water!"

"We split up the distance," Sasuke reminded her. "And when we weren't lugging him, we got to sit in the boat."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Well, I hope you're all alright."

"Yes, we are!" Tsunami bowed as low as she could. "Arigato! Thank you so much, Gato has been terrorising this place for a long time now, and you've dealt with him!"

Kakashi was about to say that he only did it because Gato was involved with other shinobi, but thought again and went against that. It wasn't a good idea to make Tsunami mad or feel lower than a shinobi. "Maa, we didn't really do anything. Sorry, but we have to leave early. We've stayed long enough, and I need to get these three brats into tip-top shape for the Chunin Exams."

Tazuna grunts. "About time you left. Thanks. And goodbye."

Tsunami chuckled. "He's a sour old man, but he's grateful. Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?"

"I don't want to impose," Kakashi replied. "Take Gato to the daimyo, she'll find some sort of solution. I've heard Katsumi Chikylu is good at her job."

"Chikylu-sama is," Tsunami agreed. "And once more, thank you."

Kakashi nods, before turning to his genin. "Oi brats, let's go."

"You're leaving?!" Inari gasped.

"I'll remember to visit!" Naruto promised, ruffling the younger boy's hair.

Inari gulped back his tears. "You better!"

"Let's go, dobe." Sasuke nudged his teammate, and the genin and jonin depart for Konoha.

Along the way, the three of them also had to do some training. But first, Kakashi wanted to know their specialities. The three genin were still deciding on the smaller, refined categories, but had a good think about it and knew what they wanted.

Sakura went first. "Medical ninjutsu and genjutsu, sensei."

Kakashi hums. "Very good choice. Suited for your long-range attacks and explicit chakra control."

Sakura beamed. "Arigato."

"I was thinking more kenjutsu and dojutsu," Sasuke offered, running a hand through his hair. "The Sharingan is really helpful, but it drains a lot of energy."

"Kenjutsu?!" Naruto gasped. "Forbidden techniques?! We didn't talk about that! I thought you were going to specialise in whatever-its-name-is, the weapons one to stab people and skewer them with stuff like swords!"

"That is kenjutsu," Kakashi deadpans, "kinjutsu is forbidden techniques."

"Oh." Naruto cocked his head sideways, kicking a rock on the road. "Really? It sounds the same to me."

"It is similar," Sakura nods.

"Then what about you, Naruto?" Kakashi inquired.

Naruto grinned. "I'm going to focus on fuinjutsu and sensory, dattebayo!"

Kakashi eye-smiles. "All of you have picked good categories for yourselves, and it helps that it's different to each other. Now I obviously can't teach you all of them, but I can get you some good tutors. I'll teach you all the basics, but the problem is when you guys get to the advanced stage. Sakura, hmm, for genjutsu, I can bribe Kurenai to teach you some advanced stuff when the time comes. Medical ninjutsu...that I need to think about. Naruto, fuinjutsu. I can teach you Uzumaki seals, but to find an advanced tutor...something else to think about. Sensory, ah. I'll get that one favour Yugao owes me. Next. Sasuke. I'm the only one who can teach you dojutsu, even if I'm not an Uchiha. For kenjutsu, I'll ask Yugao to ask Hayate. There."

"Who and who?" Naruto sighed. "Whatever. I trust you, sensei!"

Kakashi ruffled his student's hair. "I want you all to do a handstand. This is for endurance training."

All of them complied.

"And have fun walking in them all the way back!"

"What but sensei-"

"Lesson one," Sasuke said tiredly through Sakura's words.

Sakura shook her head, but almost lost her balance. "Can we use chakra?"

"Lesson fourteen," Kakashi reminded her, "there are loopholes in rules. Exploit them. Did I ever say that you weren't allowed to use chakra? I just want you three to do handstands and stay in that form until we reach the gates of Konoha."

"Alrighty!" Naruto grinned. "Let's do this."

Sasuke and Sakura both simultaneously let out a sigh, but smiled a little as well. Naruto and his never-ending cheerfulness and excitement...

**|/\|\/|**

Hiruzen was currently thinking that he was too old for this.

"You're saying," the Sandaime said slowly, "that you took your genin team - which you've only had for a total of about four weeks - to the Land of Waves, encountered _Zabuza Momochi_ and his team, _killed_ him and his team, infiltrated one of the Land of Waves' _largest crime dealer's lair_ , ran into _Orochimaru_ the traitor _Sannin_ as well, and came out _unscathed_?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I wouldn't say unscathed, they had their first kill on this mission. Oh, and almost died too. Not to mention it was C-turned-A-rank."

"S-rank," the Hokage corrected. "Running into Orochimaru and Zabuza Momochi is no small thing."

"Well, it was just me really. I dealt with them both," Kakashi mused, but then added, "They didn't even see Orochimaru, nor did he actually put up a fight."

Hiruzen sighed, pinching his nose. Naruto pouted. "Stop talking like we're not here!"

"You aren't." Kakashi turned around to give them an eye-smile. "Officially."

"Very well." Hiruzen stood up. "I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, use my authority as the Sandaime Hokage to promote Team 7 lead by Kakashi Hatake to chunin level, for being able to remain calm in panicking situations, and being back to hold their own against high ranking nukenin, and still coming back."

The three genin blinked.

Naruto opened his mouth. "So...we're officially chunin?"

"Kind of." Hiruzen smiled. "There's another thing I need you to do before you're _officially_ officially promoted."

"Hmm?" Sasuke mused. "And what's that, Hokage-sama?"

The Sandaime chuckled. The Uchiha really did remind him of Kakashi, Naruto of Obito, and Sakura of an extreme version of Rin. "Enter the Chunin Exams."

Sakura smiled. "Chunin in the Chunin Exams?"

"Exactly," Hiruzen sighed, wishing he had his pipe, but didn't want to smoke in front of these children. "I think you know about the rumours?"

"Of Otogakure and Sunagakure teaming up together to invade Konoha during the Chunin Exams?" Sasuke asked. "Yes. Sensei told us."

Hiruzen chuckled. "You never miss a thing, Kakashi."

"Eh," Kakashi shrugged.

"I want you to keep an eye on the Suna-nin and the Oto-nin. Actually, I want you to keep an eye on them all. Konoha-nin included," The Hokage said sternly. "There is a high chance we have a traitor amongst us, and it would make sense for them to enter the Chunin Exams."

Naruto looks at him blankly. "I...don't understand a thing. So we're pretty much going to enter the exam to spy on everyone? Like _everyone_ everyone?"

"Correct." Hiruzen smiled. How could he forget about Naruto's personality? It was probably the uniform. Damn Kakashi and his smart little ideas that can change a whole lot of things. Including how Naruto stands with his straight posture, it seems.

"Before we leave," Kakashi said, "I'd like to know if my tutoring ideas are okay."

"With me, or them?" The Sandaime straightened to look up at the tall jonin.

Kakashi nods his head. "All."

"I think it's fine," the Sandaime nods, "so Kurenai, Gai, Yugao, Hayate. And maybe Genma. And Jiraiya and Tsunade."

"I'm more worried about Kurenai and Jiraiya and Tsunade." Kakashi shrugs.

The Hokage smiles. "I'll get you their details."

"Don't bother with Yugao, Hayate and Genma." Kakashi grins under his mask. "They owe me a couple of favours. And Hokage-sama?"

Kakashi's hands flashed in ANBU sign language, conveying a message that the genin-now-chunin couldn't understand. _Orochimaru_ _had a warning for you to keep an eye out on your safety._

The Sandaime nods, face grave. "Dismissed."

"Kakashi Hatake, 009720, jonin."

"Sakura Haruno, 012601, chunin."

"Sasuke Uchiha, 012606, chunin."

"Naruto Uzumaki, 012607, ge - chunin, dattebayo!"

Hiruzen chuckled as Team 7 left, hearing Kakashi's announcement of learning the basics of each jutsu category after some combat training and the children's sounds of excitement. The least the Sandaime could do for Kakashi was get him the teachers he needed, since he was the one who pressured the jonin into creating a genius team.

Flipping through his files, he found the latest contact details for his other two students, Jiraiya and Tsunade. It took a while of rummaging, mostly because it was protected with traps and other protective measures. Huh. Jiraiya was last seen in Amegakure, and Tsunade was gambling away in some small city on the edge of the Land of Fire. Interesting. Combining those two files and closing with the newest poster of 'ICHA ICHA', Hiruzen gave it to an ANBU operative, knowing that she wouldn't open it.

"Give this to Kakashi Hatake," he orders.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

As the green-haired woman arrives at Training Ground Three, she was surprised to see Sasuke and Sakura going full out on a ninjutsu battle and Naruto was continuously summoning clones, one at a time. There was about a whole crowd of Narutos, and their job was to remain as still as possible in the positions Kakashi gave them.

"Hound-sama," the ANBU woman bowed, holding out the file. "From Hokage-sama."

"Thanks," Kakashi nods gratefully, taking it and nonchalantly opening it. He grins when he sees what's inside. "And can you please tell the whole ANBU department to stop calling me Hound? I've retired, jeez."

The woman smiled under her mouse mask. "I cannot do that, Hound-sama. You never truly retire from ANBU, sir."

Kakashi sighs. "Alright, whatever. Dismissed."

The woman nods, _shunshining_ away. Sasuke huffs, jumping out of the way of Sakura's rock attack. "You're part of the ANBU?"

"Was," Kakashi nods. "Ages ago. Oi, you two. Stop. That's enough. Brat, come here."

Sakura walked over, confused.

"Happy late birthday," Kakashi smiles warmly, passing her Tsunade's file. Sakura was stunned, before looking down at the file slowly. She opened the cover and her mouth fell wide open at Tsunade's profile picture. "I did tell you I'd think about your medical-nin tutor, right?"

"Birthday?" Naruto walked over. "Was it your birthday?"

Sakura nods. "It was. A week-ish ago."

"The day you did silent killing," Kakashi supplied. "And that's your gift."

"Happy birthday," Sasuke said, walking over. "I'll get you something tomorrow."

Sakura panicked. "You don't have to! It's just my birthday-"

"I'll get you something too!" Naruto grinned. "We did get our share of the mission money, remember? Not to mention the Land of Waves daimyo was nice enough to quadruple our price because of Gato! Teme and I'll get you something you'll love, dattebayo!"

Kakashi smiled. "Well, that's nice. Back to training."

Naruto groaned, before putting his hands together to create more clones. Sasuke turns to Sakura, only to see her slam her hand on the ground and trap him in the turning rocks. The Uchiha smirked before he disappeared in a poof of smoke, having been a clone. Sakura lets out an annoyed huff, but manages to leap out of the way of Sasuke's fireball. Now this was called training. Sakura was slowly catching up in terms of taijutsu, and Naruto's control is getting better. Sasuke was learning to be more social with his teammates, as proved by the fact that he offered to buy Sakura a gift.

Kakashi smiled. This was great. The training was coming along and the Council got their results. They even got to chunin, albeit it took longer than they wanted, but seriously, two weeks isn't enough time.


	9. Chunin in the Chunin Exams, I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 use their newly trained skills; the Sand Siblings run into Team 7; Ibiki Morino is not happy to babysit a bunch of genin.

A season had passed.

Team 7's daily schedule looked like this for the three months.

Six am to eight am; taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu training with Kakashi.

Eight am to eight-thirty am; breakfast - Kakashi's restaurant of choice - while henged as someone else (sometimes as each other).

Eight-thirty am to twelve-thirty pm; specialist training with their individual tutors.

Twelve-thirty pm to one pm; that was in the hands of the specialist trainers. Sometimes it was nothing with the trainer eating lunch in front of their student, other times it was the student cooking for the two of them.

One pm to five-thirty pm; specialist training again, but it was usually with a different tutor.

Five-thirty pm to six pm; taking turns making dinner for each other (all from produce they had to buy, grow or find themselves).

Six pm to eight-ish pm; basics with Kakashi. Basics of everything, including medical ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, sensory, bukijutsu. Other times it was small C-ranks, to boost their teamwork and learn each other's new skills.

Whenever they finish their mission or lesson to ten pm; Chakra Meditation.

Some days Kakashi would get them to stay longer, some days he dismissed them at ten. Other times he'd get them to go up to eleven. Other times he'd get them up at five or four, just so they can meditate in the morning as well. It was always a surprise, no pattern, and was really the only out of schedule item that Team 7 had.

"Sensei," Sakura smiles, waving. She was already all warmed up, having worked with Kurenai earlier. It was now six pm, time to spend with Kakashi and the rest of Team 7.

Kakashi looked up, and eye-smiled. "Hey, brat. Come, we're not going to do meditating today."

"Oh?" Sasuke straightened, pushing off the tree he was leaning on, already there, since he had worked with Kakashi on his Sharingan. "Really?"

"You're testing us, right?" Sakura grins. "The exams are in three days, so you're going to see how good we are after three months of training, right?"

Kakashi nods. "Correct. Now what we need is that knucklehead."

"I'm here!" Naruto gasped, rushing towards Ground Three, where his team waited. "Jeez, Uzuki-san's a really hard teacher!"

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. "Really? Or is it just that she would eat ramen in front of you when you ate nothing?"

"C'mon," Naruto pouted, "if it was anything else, then I'd understand. But sensei, it was ramen! That's...illegal! Completely wrong!"

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, alright. Let's do a training fight. Rules. You three, against me. Not allowed to go out of the training ground. Come at me with everything you've got, kids. Oh, and don't forget to use whatever new you've learnt. Let's go."

"We haven't done this in ages," Sakura noted as Kakashi _shunshined_ away. The good thing was, all three of them had learnt the shunshin during the second month of training, and were all pretty decent at using it. The only problem was that they didn't know where to go, and even if the other two turned Naruto, they all weren't surprised when he couldn't sense the ex-ANBU.

Naruto groaned. "I thought I was doing so well at sensing...and sensei comes along and crushes my self-confidence."

"He'll always do that," Sasuke said dryly, "especially when he compliments you at doing well and actually thinking you're doing excellent."

"Let's scout the outlines." Sakura gets down to business. "He said it himself, like a month ago, that he couldn't pass as civilian since he was a child. Naruto may not be good at a wide spread of sensing, but he can do a smaller spread with extreme intensity. So Sasuke and I go around setting traps and slowly make the grounds smaller for sensei to teleport because he doesn't know if he gets caught into one."

Naruto nods slowly. "What she said."

"What's your smaller range?" Sasuke started to take out chakra coils and shurikens.

Naruto frowned. "About three hundred metres."

"What's your large range?" Sakura stretched.

"About two kilometres." Naruto cocked his head sideways. "I'm trying to get it better, and get my finer range wider too."

"That's pretty good," Sakura grins, "let's do this."

And all three of them _shunshin_ to three different points, all knowing that Naruto went to the centre, Sasuke to the right, and Sakura to the left. It was one of those things - like how you never interrupt Naruto when he eats ramen or when Sakura when's she's Chakra Meditating - that the team just knew from spending time with each other.

Naruto shrank his range quickly, focusing quickly on the details. He knew where Sasuke and Sakura were vaguely, but then they extinguished their obvious chakra signatures, going off Naruto's radar. That was a good sign, meaning that Naruto was definitely focusing on the area around him.

He caught a small light in the corner of his mindscape. How he sensed was almost like an extra dimension inside his brain, or what Yugao liked to call Uzumaki's Mindscape. It was almost like a 3D grid inside his mind, and when he sensed something a light lit up somewhere on the grid.

Naruto flashed his chakra. Long, short, short. _Right._

Shunshining to the exact spot he sensed Kakashi, Naruto snorts as he saw on the trunk beside him, was the scratched in letters of 'good job' in an obvious Kakashi-handwriting. The good thing was that Naruto couldn't mess up his teammates and sensei, simply because there a colour to it. Kakashi was white, Sakura was green, like her eyes, and Sasuke was navy.

But Naruto could sense Sasuke and Sakura both in his range now, because they both had _shunshined_ to the right. But that meant Kakashi would most likely teleport to the left to avoid the rest of Team 7.

But to shunshin you need chakra...

Naruto's range widened almost instantly, and just caught the extinguish of Kakashi's chakra.

He flared his chakra again. Short, short, long. _Left_. Long, short, long. _Centre_.

This time, only Sasuke shunshined, arriving right where Naruto last sensed Kakashi. Quite frustratingly, Kakashi's chakra appeared for a second before disappearing right before Sasuke's appeared in that spot.

This chase ran for a while, for about half an hour when Sakura's chakra spiked and all three of them appeared at her spot, Naruto already a little disorientated from widened and closing his range too many times. Kakashi had been caught in one of Sakura's ingenious traps, which set off as soon as he stepped inside. The chakra wire set off with his chakra signature and the wire strung up his foot.

Even if he substituted with a stick almost instantly, his team which had inherited his fast reflexes to use E-ranks, had appeared almost as soon as he made the sign to substitute.

"Crap!" Sakura slammed a genjutsu onto the area, hands blurring together to create seals. "I forgot about Kawarimi!"

"What genjutsu?" Sasuke asks, brushing right past his teammate's mistake.

She frowns. "It's the one where he thinks he's being attacked but isn't. He still hasn't dispelled it because we're all wearing the uniform, so he doesn't know if it's Naruto's clones or my genjutsu."

"Good." Sasuke activated his Sharingan. "Where is he, dobe?"

Naruto pulled out two kunai. "To our right. About eighteen metres, and a tiny bit to the north. You might be able to hear him."

Sasuke and Naruto _shunshin_ into the area, but Sakura simply substitutes - she's better at Kawarimi than shunshin - into the trees further ahead so she can see what's going on instead of engaging with Kakashi. Just as the boys appeared, Sakura winced, feeling her sensei dispel her genjutsu. That was incredibly fast, especially since Naruto's clones and Sakura's fake attacking genjutsu puppets looked exactly the same.

" _Kage Bushin no Jutsu!_ " Naruto called, and six clones appeared behind him. Kakashi knocked two out with one kick, and the team instantly knew that he was all warmed up and ready to go. The jonin eye-smiled. Sasuke instantly slipped under a Naruto clone's legs, using the clone's smoke when it gets destroyed as a smokescreen, and threw a punch Kakashi, who caught it quickly. Sasuke cursed. Even with his Sharingan on and Kakashi's covered, they were still on par with speed.

But being on par with speed didn't mean Kakashi was faster. No, the jonin had to concentrate slightly to keep up with his student's movements, which was something that Kakashi praised. Sasuke ducked under Kakashi's roundhouse kick, kicking out his own leg in a low sweep. Kakashi jumped over it, before jumping backwards, Sakura's senbon from afar missing its target. Sasuke watched the senbon fly past his face before bolting forwards, a kunai in hand.

Kakashi ducked under Sasuke jab, before grabbing his student's arm and tossing the Uchiha at Sakura, who stumbled backwards but caught Sasuke. Kakashi _shunshined_ behind the duo, hands already forming seals.

He eye-smiled. " _Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu._ "

A stream of water shot out of his mouth and barrelled towards the two students, with the two of them _shunshining_ right before the water would've hit them. Kakashi whistled at the small crater the water left after slamming into the ground. It seemed picking up that jutsu from Zabuza wasn't a bad idea. Kakashi sensed Naruto's huge chakra from behind, and just managed to substitute out of the way as a huge gust of wind completely devastated the area for about a five hundred meter radius.

Kakashi appeared behind the Jinchuriki, humming happily as Sasuke was also there.

He eye-smiled, just as Sasuke whirled around, nailing a kick in his face.

Naruto gaped. "Did you actually hit sen-"

"A clone," Sasuke cursed, before turning to Naruto. "Where is he?"

"Sakura-chan! Fifty metres to our north-west." Naruto's eyes widened, before the two of them instantly _shunshin_ to her side.

There stood Kakashi, looking cheerful, while Sakura was being held hostage. She was upside down, tied up with chakra coils. But Kakashi was also looking a little rough. His hitai-ate had an obvious scratch that wasn't there before, and there was a bloody tear on his arm.

"Did..." Sasuke's eyes were slightly wide. "Sakura do that?"

The girl scowled. "Hmmph, mmf augh mmph!"

Kakashi pulled her to the ground, setting her straight, undid the gag, and gave the three a smile. "You did well. All three of you."

"We lost!" Naruto cried dramatically. "Oh wait, we were never going to win. Maaa, sensei. How'd you know where Sakura-chan was?"

"Luck." Kakashi shrugged. "It seemed like that recap session a couple of days ago on suppressing chakra worked well. She was very well hidden, a lot of traps. Though she did enter my range just as she substituted with something else, so I caught her."

"Whoo," Sakura blew a strand of hair out of her face. "That was exhilarating!"

Kakashi eye-smiled again. "Time for a little touch up on genjutsu. All of you should know at least one, so let's test those out. Sakura, nice genjutsu earlier. It took me a while to figure it out."

Sakura beamed. Sasuke ran his hands through the seals in preparation, but Naruto just blinked and stood there blankly. Kakashi sighed. Naruto really did need to learn a genjutsu, who knows when it'll come in handy.

**|/\|\/|**

The Esteemed Grandson and the Number One Knucklehead Hyperactive Ninja - dubbed by Sasuke Uchiha - stood together on a road, the younger boy running around Naruto and making extremely loud noises that made the chunin wince.

"Konohamaru," Naruto sighed, "I don't have the time for this."

The boy pouted. "But it's your day off!"

"I need to prepare for the Chunin Exams which are tomorrow," Naruto replied, tugging his Team 7 cloak tighter to his body. "And _jeez_ it is cold."

Sakura and Sasuke walk down the road, and Naruto grins at them. In Sakura's hair, there was a customised pin to hold back her flyaway hairs, which was a white roman numeral VII with black and pink sakura flowers around it. On her hands were gloves like Sasuke, and also had senbon inside of them. But it was crimson to match her outfit - her old gear, not navy.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned. "You're wearing your birthday presents!"

"Yeah," the girl beamed, "the clip's really helpful in keeping up hair up, Naruto. Thanks."

Naruto smiles back, before sighing as Konohamaru jumps onto his back. "Ma ma, Naruto-nii, teach me your strongest jutsu!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Naruto said dryly.

Sasuke nods at him. "We need to go train."

Naruto mouthed a 'thank you' before pulling Konohamaru off of him. "Hear that? I'll play with you after the exams."

Konohamaru pouted before stomping away. "I don't care anymore!"

"You will five minutes later," Naruto muttered, before turning to his teammates with a tired smile. "He's always like that. So what now? Are we actually training?"

Sakura shakes her head. "Kind of. Sensei says to find as many participants as possible, so we went looking for you. You're our sensor."

"So..." Naruto trailed off.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Look for the other Konoha rookies. Y'know, Team 10 and 8."

"Righto." Naruto's eyes turned red and feline, his mouth tightening into a frown as he concentrated on extending his range to cover most of Konoha, which could only be done with the Kyuubi's help. "I can sense the shadow dude and his team training on ground three, er, and the other team's eating lunch at Ichiraku's. Why are they having lunch so early? Isn't it only ten?"

Sakura hit him on the head. "They're eating breakfast, baka. Why don't we check out the other village nins?"

"Okay," Naruto frowned, "hey. I'm sensing another...Jinchik or something."

"Jinchuriki? Where?" Sasuke asked. They had all ran through a Sharingan and Tailed-Beast/Jinchuriki information session during one of their training sessions with Kakashi in the evening, so they all knew each other's strengths and abilities.

"Behind you." Naruto pointed, and Sakura and Sasuke whirl around to see three Suna-nins walking together, and it was obvious that two were avoiding the third. The redhead. And rightly so. The boy was emitting KI harshly and probably didn't even realise. The air was frigid, and when the boy walked past Team 7 without so much of a glance, they all knew that his affinity was earth, as the air texture was rough and felt like mud.

"Him?" Sasuke asked loud enough so the Suna-nin could hear them.

Naruto nods. "Yeah."

"Who?" The redhead turned around with a frightening glare. "Me? You dare-"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto cut in, holding out a hand, "nice to meet you. Are y'all from Suna?"

"Yes," the female said, but then shrinks when the redhead turns to her. "Gaara, let's go."

"Hmph," Gaara growled, turning back to glare at Naruto who didn't even flinch under the full force of his KI. They once pissed Kakashi off so bad - when they didn't sleep in their gear - he let out around half of his KI and almost made them piss their pants and make them want to run back home. Gaara's underdeveloped KI was nothing compared to that.

Naruto smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Gaara. I hope we can be friends."

The other two Suna-nin winced and looked away. Gaara snorts. "Whatever. Let's go, Temari, Kankuro."

Sakura jumped in. They needed time to evaluate the other nins. It was better to know more about your potential enemy than nothing. "Er, are you guys siblings?"

"How'd you guess?" Temari asked, looking coldly at Sakura, who returned the glare with a honey-coated smile that made Temari rethink her approach.

"Well," Sakura smiled, "you just give off that vibe."

Not really. Team 7 had been given authority to go through the files as one of the 'proctors', as said by the Sandaime. The files had all the information of the genin coming into Konoha to attend the exam, and through that, all of Team 7 now knew family relationships and length of being a genin, as well as appearance.

"Yeah, we're siblings." Kankuro glared at her. "So what?"

"Nothing," Sasuke said coolly, sending a warning glance at him.

The air was tense around them, Kankuro and Sasuke having a glaring competition as Sakura and Temari attempted to get information out of the other, and Naruto was chirping happily to a confused and annoyed Gaara, who had no idea how to interact with others who _voluntarily_ interacted with him.

Kakashi appeared to save them. "Brats, you've got training."

"Hai, sensei." Sasuke nods, breaking eye contact with Kankuro. The Suna-nin thought he should feel victorious, but somehow, even if Sasuke was the first to break eye contact, Kankuro only felt wariness and caution, as if Sasuke was still glaring at him.

"You too, obnoxious-"

"Hai, hai." Naruto grins. "What are we doing?"

"It's called let's find my real self." Kakashi eye-smiled, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Sakura sighed. "Naruto..."

"Nup," the boy strained, "I can't find him. It was nice talking to you, Gaara. I'll see you all in the exams!"

Sakura nods respectfully at them as Sasuke simply looks over them blankly before the three of them turn around, walking in a line with Sakura coming up with possible places that their sensei could be and Sasuke nodding or shaking his head as Naruto focused on making his sensory area more detailed and deeper.

Kankuro glanced at Temari. "They give me the wrong feeling."

"It's like they're trying to get us to underestimate them," Temari agreed. "The girl is strong."

"So's the guy!" Kankuro added.

Gaara snorts. "As if they're stronger than me. Let's go."

"Hai," his two older siblings says quickly, ducking their heads and shivering as Gaara's KI was directed at them.

**|\/|/\|**

Ibiki Morino was not happy.

Just because he let one of their prisoners escape for two hours doesn't mean he has to get punished like this. Of course, he had consequences, but he was not expecting the Sandaime to chuckle and tell him that he had the perfect punishment.

Becoming a proctor.

Of the Chunin Exams.

Otherwise known throughout the jonin rank, as babysitting the genin.

"Alright brats," Ibiki bellowed, "this is phase one! A written exam!"

All of the genin quieten down, looking quite intimidated by Ibiki's expression and scars. All except for the wretched Hatake's kids, who just lounge in their seats like this is what they usually see everyday. If there was someone other than Ibiki to take over as head of torture and interrogation, it would have to be Kakashi Hatake. His laid back attitude switch to ANBU captain back in the old days was scary enough to freak even Ibiki out at times. And he wasn't surprised to see the Uchiha look at him with a bored expression, the Haruno to look down at her sheet with little interest, and the Uzumaki to looked super confused but when he looked down at the sheet, something clicked and he looked satisfied.

After explaining the rules, Ibiki slammed his hand on his desk. "We're going to begin! You have one hour!"

Keeping an eye on the genin, Ibiki looked at Haruno to see the girl humming easily to herself while writing down answers. The tokubestu jonin looks at the nearest chunin, tilting his head slightly to ask the question. The man frantically nods, eyes wide. Ibiki nods slowly, looking back at the girl. So all her answers were right. That was new. No genin - or even chunin - should know the answer of these questions.

Holding up a copy of the test paper, Ibiki scanned the questions. He snorts softly. This girl was close to being an intellectual genius.

Q1. Decipher this | $1$1ab473f5$JorJER3kAJtBmosGErBBI

Q2. Line B is the greatest possible distance a shinobi can throw his shuriken from a tree of 7 metres. For enemies who appear within the circumference of the shuriken's range, explain his attack options. Show working.

Q3. A serial killer kidnapped five different people and sat them down each with two pills in their hand and a glass of water. He told them each to take one pill but warned them that one was poisonous and the other was harmless. Whichever pill the victim didn't take, the serial killer would take. Every victim somehow chose the poisonous pill and died. How did the serial killer get them all to take the poisonous pill?

Q4. What were the results of the Kannabi Bridge incident?

Q5. Fill in the missing numbers. 8, 18, 11, 15, 5, 4, 14, 9, 19, 1, 7, 17, 6, 16, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

Q6. Look at the diagram. The pink shaded area is the safe area. Red dots around the safe area represent victims in need of help. What is the shortest route to get all of the victims into the safe zone? Draw out a line.

Q7. If your target was running up a hill and had a twenty-metre head start, if your stamina ratio was 3:5, with your stamina higher, how long would it take for you to reach your target?

Q8. You are a jury. A woman was in court for killing her husband. She said she wasn't guilty and that she dearly missed him. In the closing statement, the woman's lawyer stands up and says, "Her husband was just missing. Everyone look at the doors. He's going to walk through them in about 30 seconds." Everyone - you included - stares at the doors waiting for waiting for this woman's husband to walk through the doors. The lawyer and the woman stare at you. The lawyer concludes by saying, "See! If you were so sure she killed her husband, you wouldn't be watching that door!" Is she guilty or innocent?

Q9. Write down the names of all the past and current Kage.

Ibiki looked back up to see the pink-haired girl flip her sheet over and cross her arms, finished. Now that was fast. Looking over at the other members of Team 7, Ibiki saw the two boys doing nothing. Absolutely nothing but playing around. The blond was whispering rather discreetly to the Hyuga girl beside him - Ibiki was wondering if only he could see it, because the boy was so good at it - and the Uchiha was whistling. Annoyingly.

Suddenly, Uzumaki lurched up in his seat and slammed his hand against his sheet of paper. Ibiki's eyes widen slightly. Was that a seal that he just activated?

Without warning, the sheet lit on fire, as well as the whole row's table, a column of fire rushing to the right from the left. Uzumaki bellowed, "Oi! Which one of you did that?! I'll kill you, dattebayo!"

The whole row turned to look to their left, where the fire had started, and one Iwa-nin shook his head rapidly. "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Oh yeah?" Uzumaki snarled. "Well, who's a fire affinity?"

They all looked at the Iwa-nin again, now all attention on that row. "I swear, it wasn't me!"

Haruno started to hum in the background, and Uzumaki smiled. Uchiha sighed, and suddenly the Iwa-nin shot up in his seat and pointed at an Oto-nin. "You! It was you!"

The girl growled. "Oh, you wanna go?! We'll go!"

The whole room erupted into mini fights, and Ibiki watched with amusement as Uchiha quickly substituted around the room setting fire to everyone's papers, even his own. The other chunin couldn't even see what was going on, a very good cover for the boy. And then the tokubestu jonin had to stop himself from raising his eyebrows as Haruno duplicated her sheet and passed it to Uzumaki, who duplicated it again and gave it to Uchiha, and all three of them sat down in sync and looked nonchalant like they didn't make the whole room fight and set half the room on fire.

The Haruno girl caught his eye and smiled sweetly.

He chuckled. Okay. Maybe Hatake wasn't so bad of a teacher.

"BRATS!" Ibiki hollered. "Take a seat!"

Nodding at a specific chunin, she stood up and doused the whole place with water. Team 7 was smart enough to cover their sheet up with their cloaks, but the same couldn't be said for the others. All of their papers were soggy.

"No complaining!" Ibiki yelled. "Use those wet ones!"

It was pretty boring afterwards because Team 7 had achieved their goals and all they had to do was wait. This was much more entertaining that Ibiki had expected, and he mentally thanked Hatake for teaching such an interesting team, because now it wasn't so bad of a punishment.

Too bad they all knew that question ten was a bluff.

**|\/|/\|**

Kakashi looked up from Icha Icha as he waited for his students, but found that it was Ibiki walking towards him.

"Yo," Kakashi waves.

Ibiki regards him with a suspicious air. "Those kids of yours...did you teach them how to make a good distraction?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Ah. Naruto must've done something."

"He set the room on fire, with help from the Uchiha," Ibiki deadpanned.

"He never knows when to not overdo it," Kakashi sighed, "was it interesting?"

"They worked well together," Ibiki said grudgingly. "And it was surprisingly not boring."

Kakashi smiled. "Well, they must have been outstanding, if you complimented them."

"Shut up," Ibiki growled, "and I better be going. What are you doing here?"

"Waiting." Kakashi didn't elaborate, and Ibiki simply dismissed it before leaving. Kakashi looked back to his book, humming to himself for another five minutes before his three students came, with Naruto retelling the story of phase one comically.

"Did you see the guy's face when I looked at him? And then Sakura-chan went like whoosh with her genjutsu and then he picked a fight with that freaky girl and-"

"Sounds like you had a good time." Kakashi interrupted, eye-smiling.

Sakura grinned. "You should've seen the looks on their faces. That genjutsu worked so well."

"The reckless one?" Sasuke hummed. "It was a gamble, but it paid off."

Sakura's genjutsu was the one where she would hum, and all those that heard would fall under it. It would make people angrily and overall make them more reckless, which makes the targets tend to abandon all sorts of plans and ordered attacks. If you were aware of the genjutsu you could dispel it quickly, which is what Sakura's two teammates did. Sometimes making your opponents reckless was a good thing, sometimes it was bad.

"It was awesome!" Naruto beamed.

"I heard you set the room on fire," Kakashi remarked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Dobe's seal set stuff on fire, so I just added on with some fireballs. Small ones."

"Medium," Sakura corrected. "You set the whole right side of the room on fire."

"Nearly burnt me," Naruto agreed.

Sasuke turns away. "Whatever."

"Fire seal?" Kakashi turned Naruto. "How'd you do that?"

"Oh, so you know that seal you showed me that can seal chakra? I got teme to create a fireball and then I sealed it! In small stages, of course! Y'know that symbol thing you said would activate as long I stuck it somewhere and had a controller seal drawn somewhere? I stuck it next to Sakura-chan's seat and so she put a genjutsu on it and-"

Naruto broke off, eyes wide. "Aiyeee! Mitarashi-san is scary! She killed my clone who was pretending to be us! We really need to get to phase two."

Kakashi chuckled. "Go for it. I'll see you after phase two. Don't overdo it too much, you _are_ attending the exams just for observational purposes."

"Hai!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand, that is the last of my rapid updating. I'll update chapter 10 tomorrow, and then chapter 11 the week after and so on. Thanks a lot for picking this story to read!  
> Also, I made Naruto's wider range two km, which would be the diameter of his circular range. I tried searching up for Konoha's width to be able to ratio his sensory ability, but what I came up with a two km for Konoha itself, and I don't think that's right if there's an estimated amount of 80,000 people inside of Konoha. I was going to make it about 80km squared for the whole of Konoha. Just informing you all about this change.  
> ANYWAYS, next week's sneak peek is;
> 
> Team 7 opts to lay low; Team Gai is met with an 'unyouthful team'; Team Dosu just wanted to fight one, but ended up against all three. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Chunin in the Chunin Exams, II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 opts to lay low; Team Gai is met with an 'unyouthful team'; Team Dosu just wanted to fight one, but ended up against all three.

"So," Naruto blinked, "what now?"

"Lay low," Sakura winced, "we've already gained a lot of attention."

Anko Mitarashi, who had a scarily good aim with anything that can be thrown, had dispelled all of Naruto's clones in front of all of the Chunin Exam contestants, humiliating the whole team. Arriving as quickly as possible (not using shunshin, it's better if the rest of the participants underestimate them), Sasuke had coolly said that his sensei - mindfully not saying Kakashi's name - wanted to see them and told them to use clones just in case. Thankfully, Naruto had instructed the clones to burst quite easily, so they looked like normal clones, rather than shadow clones.

Sasuke nods. "Good idea. Let's chakra meditate for a day."

"Or two," Sakura mused.

"Righto. But we need somewhere to go. Like, to chakra meditate. Somewhere..." Naruto frowned. "Isolated. Completely hidden. Preferably soundproof too. What about somewhere to store food?"

Sasuke nods slowly, leaning against the fence. The large number twelve was plastered on top of the fence doors, the gates closed and locked with a flimsy little lock. "We've waited long enough, right?"

"Fifteen minutes..." Sakura nods. They all had their internal clocks, but Sakura's was the most accurate. It was something new that Kakashi gave them a challenge to work on during the exams, and it just so happened that no one was going to tell them when to enter the forest or not. The second phase must have started ever since they were assigned gates. "That should be enough."

"I wanna do it!" Naruto beamed, bounding forwards. Pulling out a kunai, he slammed the blade onto the lock, shattered it, threw open the gates and turned back to the classmates with a flourishing bow. "Welcome to the Forest of Death!"

Sasuke sighed, shaking his head, before walking in casually. Sakura smiled, walking inside, tugging gently at her red skirt. And yes, again, they were wearing their old gear. It actually quite worked with their 'dumb Konoha's Team 7' facade, with Naruto as the loudmouth, Sakura as the weak link, and Sasuke as the emotionally challenged brat.

"So," Sasuke turned around to face his team, "thinking along the lines of Naruto's criteria, a cave or a hole in the ground might work."

Sakura sighed. "This must be why we haven't done a survival challenge yet; sensei probably wanted to keep this as new terrain for us."

"Huh." Naruto scrunched up his face. "I remember a little bit of this..."

Due to being able to speed up learning using the shadow clone techniques, Kakashi had instructed Naruto during every one of their sessions together to summon four clones to memorise books and objects. Sometimes when the real Naruto would learn how to hold a sword upright, one clone would memorise the Bingo Book, another would memorise Konoha's floor plan, another would be all the current political influencers and so on. And then, to test Naruto's understanding, the real boy would have to teach his other two teammates about what he had learnt.

Naruto blinked. "I got it! So there's like a tower in the centre, which is where we drop off the scrolls, right? To the right, there's like a huge hill, and to the south of the hill, there's a lake. We can like dig a hole into the hill and cover it up with a genjutsu or something. Because there's a lake, we can fish! Sensei taught us how to fish, remember?"

Sakura smiled dryly. "I think you're the only one who could forget."

"Not true! I'm the one who memorised all the stuff sensei threw at my face!" Naruto pouts, following behind Sasuke, who took the lead to walk towards the tower. He planned to walk to the tower, then turn east to walk towards the hill, mostly to throw off people who would tail them. If it looked like they already had two scrolls, they might scare off any other competitors.

But just as they arrived at the tower, there were three other students, lounging around the base.

Team 7 knew who they were. After all, they did skim through the files of all of the Chunin Exam participants.

"Ooo," a girl with space-buns smiled, "there's Team 7 of the Rookie 9!"

"Rookie-" Sasuke snorts, partially because of the lame name, and partially because of his facade. "Rookie 9. Why am I lumped in with the rest of the incompetent brats?"

Naruto gasped. "Teme! You little-"

"Er," Sakura tried to act shy, she really did, but the Hyuga boy did not look impressed. "Are you a Konoha team from last year?"

The Hyuga scoffs. "What does it look like? It seems like fate has decided that we take your scrolls. Lee, Tenten. Get into position."

"Rude," Naruto poked his tongue out.

"And our sensei warned us about you," the Hyuga sneers, "apparently we shouldn't underestimate you. I don't see why we should. You're all just little spoilt brats, who can't even show up on time."

Sasuke stilled. "He did, did he?" All of the chunin's brains ran through all of the jonin senseis they've met. There was Kurenai, Asuma...and Gai. That one time for a reality check because Kakashi claimed they underestimated the power of taijutsu. Oh. Sasuke blinked at them, before a smirk appeared on his face. "You must be Gai's kids."

"Oh?" The Hyuga smirks back. "You've heard of us, Uchiha?"

Sasuke's face wiped blank. "Sorry, what was your name again? You look like you're from a clan, but I forgot. Must not be a good clan, then."

"Don't be so mean," Sakura gave him a weak glare as Neji face descended into a stormy look.

"Neji," the girl, Tenten tried to protest. "They're younger than us, and they're from Konoha as well-"

"That doesn't matter, does it?" Neji seemed to soften a little when he turned back to his teammates. "Let's just get their scroll and be done with it."

Lee bounced on his feet, eyes bright with the anticipation of a fight. "Let's do this!"

"Do we have to?" Naruto was actually sincerely asking his question.

Neji raised his eyebrows. "Are you backing out of this?"

"On three." Sakura offers.

Naruto nods. Sasuke sighs, closing his eyes. "Alright. Whatever."

"Three," Sakura flexed her fingers, "two..."

Naruto waved. "One!"

Team Gai blinked. And then they were gone.

"Did they substitute out of the area?" Neji narrowed his eyes. "Tenten..."

"I can't sense them." Tenten winced. "Though I may not be the person to ask."

"How unyouthful of them!" Lee exclaimed. "They chickened out of a fight!"

Not really. All three of them were ordered by the Hokage himself to keep a low profile, don't draw any attention to them, and try to run from any fight - especially one with a fellow Konoha team. The chunin had shunshined to someplace else, split up, just in case Team Gai had a sensor - which was doubtful, but you can never really rely on shinobi files, take Kakashi's for instance, there was nothing on how old the jonin was or when his birthday was (when Sakura wanted to give him a gift since he had wished her a happy birthday) - and had agreed before the second phase to decide a home base and if they were met with a team that wanted to battle, they'd shunshin out of the place and go to the place where Team 7 were to rendezvoused at the top of their original destination; the hill.

Sasuke arrived first. He was the best at shunshin, and Kakashi had commented that he probably took after a relative, Shisui Uchiha. Sasuke didn't know who this 'Shisui' was, but Kakashi had tossed him the file on Shisui Uchiha for him to study that one time he overused his Sharingan.

The Uchiha looked around, on top of the hill, keeping his posture casual and innocent. He still needed to act like a genin, needed to be vulnerable. Glancing left, right, forwards, backwards, Sasuke had to admit that Naruto was the best at picking a good spot. There was definitely a large lake nearby, and not to mention a field of huge plants that looked like the gigantic version of grass. That would be the best to lose an enemy.

"Whoo," Naruto shunshined and arrived right next to Sasuke. "That was close."

Sakura arrived too. "I wish we could use Kawarimi..."

"That is your best E-rank, isn't it?" Sasuke nods.

"It's also faster, for me." Sakura smiles. "So what now? We're supposed to find somewhere to stay the night..."

Naruto gestured to his side. "We're right next to a hill. Shouldn't we do something like dig a cave?"

"Then how do we cover it up?" Sasuke tapped the side of the hill. "It's literally just a patch of grass."

Sakura blinked. "Breathe underwater."

"What?" Naruto frowned.

"We learnt that one E-rank Kiri jutsu, remember? Breathing underwater?" Sakura pointed to the lake. "The entrance could be underwater. Not to mention doesn't water dampen chakra senses?"

The two boys look at her. Sasuke smirks. "That is a good idea."

"We don't need to make it too complex," Naruto nods, "because this is just the Chunin Exams. But that's a good idea, Sakura-chan! Let's do this!" Suddenly, the Jinchuriki deflated. "Won't the cave just leak water and we'll drown inside?"

"Baka," Sakura sighed, tying her hair up, "we'll dig up once we finish the tunnel. So it's like an underground entrance."

"Oh." Naruto nods slowly, processing it. Then he perks up. "So how many clones do we need?"

Sasuke smirked. "Give us seven. Also, what are you going to do about that hair, Sakura? It's flying everywhere. And I'm not exaggerating."

"Cut it." Sakura frowned, batting it with one hand as the breeze came by. "It's becoming super annoying. Though Mother won't be too happy..."

Naruto shrugs, summoning clones. "Who cares about her? You're shinobi, she hates 'em, so who cares if you just trim a little of your pinkness?"

Sakura chuckled. "Kinda makes sense. Though I do care about my mother."

"Ah," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I didn't want to seem insensitive..."

"I get it," Sakura smiles, "let's get this tunnel done."

|/\|\/|

It was no surprise that by nightfall, they had completed the base of the tunnel and the cave itself was close to being finished. All they needed to do was reinforce the tunnel so it won't collapse under pressure and make sure that the cave was secure too. This would be a good way to kill time too.

But it was good enough. A place to sleep, and their entrance was also a makeshift pond, where fish would sometimes pop up. Then Team 7 used it to fish, catching dinner. To be honest, it was really the fish that Sasuke had caught, because Naruto fell into the small pond and Sakura was a little too impatient for the fish to take the bait.

Now the group were sitting by the lake, outside by the hill rather than under it, a fire having been lit, and Sasuke was slowly roasting the fish they had. Naruto was placing chakra seals all over the entrance, because of the property water had against chakra, he decided to put more than necessary. The seals were going to act like a doorbell, when someone passes through, the signature will be sent to the members of Team 7. While Naruto took care of the security, Sakura was scouting out the edges of the area, since she was the best at finding natural herbs and other spices. And there had to be some sort of edible plant in the forest. The sun was setting, and the little fire underneath Sasuke's feet seemed to light up the whole side of the hill.

Naruto slid down the side of the hill, having been up there to get a better sense of where everyone else was inside the training ground since he had just finished placing all of his seals, a cheerful smile on his face. "Hey, dobe! Is dinner ready yet?"

Sasuke looks up. "Almost. Where's Sakura?"

"She's..." Naruto frowned. "A little far. Should we go get her?"

"Spike." Sasuke pokes the fire with a stick. "She'll notice it."

Naruto nods, sitting down crosslegged beside Sasuke, spiking his chakra in a pattern while doing so. "Wait, do we have salt or something?"

"Salt." Sasuke nods, holding up a pouch. "You're lucky Sakura's gone through food courses that one time she became chakra deprived."

Naruto gaped. "How? Awesome!"

"She made it a while ago," Sasuke rotated a fish, "I think she used the salt leftover from when she used saltwater a couple of weeks ago."

"Great!" Naruto frowned, face suddenly turning serious. "Her chakra's lower than usual. And she's moving way slower than usual. She's not using any E-ranks."

Sasuke poked the fire again. "Keep your guard up. Something's up."

"I know that," Naruto stuck his tongue out. "I'm just telling you."

Sasuke picked out one of the first fish he had put into the fire and picked out a pinch of salt from a pouch by his waist and spread it over the fish, before passing it to Naruto. His teammate cheerfully took it, calling out 'itadakimasu' before taking a bite. Sasuke shook his head, before pulling out his own dinner and settling down beside Naruto, with his free hand just so happening to brush past his thigh pouch conveniently, and hovered above it.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "There's someone else with her, and two more people tailing them. Can't recognise them."

"How's her chakra level?" Sasuke nonchalantly took a bite, wary of the fact that they might have to face some other team. After all their effort to evade Team Gai, they had to face another team.

"It's fine," Naruto frowned, "so she didn't fight. But the others have some stupidly weird huge reserves, but the refinements are horrid. It's like they just got boosted but never learn to actually use the boosts."

"Interesting." Sasuke rotated Sakura's fish, taking care that it wasn't going to be burnt.

"Maybe she thinks this team is worth fighting," Naruto suggested. "She's definitely smarter than both of us."

"In evaluating people, yes," Sasuke nods.

"Oi, boys." None of them flinched or even turned around. "Look here. We've got Miss Pretty, so drop whatever you're enjoying and turn around with your arms up."

"Blabbermouth too, huh?" Sasuke took a bite out of his fish.

Naruto shrugged. "How am I supposed to know that through sensing her chakra?"

"Excuse me?" Kin Tsuchi, an Otogakure nin, was used to people being sceptical around her because she came from a new shinobi village. After being ordered by her sensei to attack the sole Uchiha and his team, she at least thought they'd put a fight. But she did not expect for the girl to cry out like a spoilt brat and surrender instantly. And now these two boys were exchanging sentences like it was Friday evening after a long day.

Sasuke turned around. "Oh, you're still there?"

"You little-" Kin growled, before roughly shoving a kunai against Sakura's throat. "Alright, you'd better take me seriously now."

"Why?" Kin was taken aback when Naruto turned around.

The Oto-nin was now sure that they were mental. "What do you mean, why-"

"They're off," Sakura spoke up. "And they had asked for something weird at the start." Rather than asking for their scroll, Kin had demanded to find the Uchiha, which had set Sakura alert. The Haruno was confident that her team was somewhat of a 'better' team, and decided to check this team out.

Kin looked down at the girl. This was a totally different person from the girl who screamed for her to have mercy just a few minutes ago. Sasuke nods. "You take care of her. We'll take care of the rest."

"Hai," Sakura smiled.

Kin scowled. "What the hell are you-"

Suddenly, she felt a sting in her hand and something hit her from the side of her face and stumbled backwards. The Oto-nin gasped, touching her swollen face, clicking her jaw back in place. Sakura stood there, senbon needles poking out of her crimson gloves, like talons, and a slight touch of blood on them. Kin narrowed her eyes. That must've been the thing she used to stab Kin's hand to make the other girl let go of her hair. Somehow, the other teammates were gone, as if they'd never been there in the first place. They definitely didn't substitute, otherwise, there would've been two thumps of whatever they'd substituted with.

"I also kicked you in the face, if you were wondering." Sakura smiled brightly.

Kin pulled out her set of senbon. "Freaking bitch."

"Foul mouth." Sakura retracted her senbon into her fingerless gloves, before bending down near the fire and pulling out her Team 7 cloak, which had been left behind when she went looking for herbs and spices. "And likes senbon. Interesting."

Kin thrust a handful, confident she'd hit the vital parts. Sakura tilted her head to the side, analysing the attack, before pulling her cloak to her body and completely blocked the senbon. Sakura was instantly on high alert. The senbon was thrown with scary accuracy and strength, which meant this Oto girl was good. Not just good, but was probably on par with Sakura herself, and that was saying something. Sakura was a 'chunin', someone who was sent to the Exams to keep an eye on all the other participants.

"That cloak," Kin growled.

Sakura pulled out a kunai, spinning it easily in her hand. "Alright. Let's do this."

Kin instantly tossed the senbon, this time using the trees around them and throwing the ones which had bells and wire tied to them. Sakura heard the slight jingle of bells and blocked the ones aimed at her, her kunai flashing quickly to block the needles. Her mind ran through possibilities; could be a distraction, a sign for her teammates, maybe it was a part of a bigger attack...there had to be some sort of counter that the Konoha-nin needed to think up for each scenario.

Doton: Retsudo Tensho. Sakura slammed her hand on the ground, upturning the ground, and using her refined chakra control, she managed to narrow it down and make it longer rather than wider. Almost like a narrow chasm, a jagged line of turning rocks shot towards Kin, who leapt back, expecting it to stop short. But it didn't. It kept going and the Oto-nin had to land on a branch and leap out of the sideways.

Both girls grit their teeth. She's good.

Kin tugged on the ends of her chakra wire, hearing the familiar jingle of her bells on her senbon. It was better to slap on that genjutsu now rather than never. It didn't take too long for Kin to place her genjutsu on Sakura, who blinked her eyes when she saw the multiple images of Kin, all standing together on the same branch. It either had to be a genjutsu or some health malfunction. But the Konoha girl knew, she knew. It had to be a genjutsu, because moments ago, she had her target clear in her line of sight, no such thing as a hallucination in her mind. But it was better to use that to her own advantage; sustaining any jutsu needed chakra, no?

Shunshining out of sight, Sakura was careful not to use Kawarimi. If Kin had seen whatever she'd substituted with, regardless of the speed, if she could react faster than Sakura, the Haruno would be caught.

The pink-haired girl threw her hood on to blend in with the shadows, shifting silently inside her cloak to crouch down and keep an eye on the sound nin. There were multiple images of the girl, all standing quite clumped together, moving perfectly in sync. Sakura winced, massaging her ears. The ringing of the bells were still in her ears, and it was starting to disorientate the Konoha-nin.

Kin moved, and Sakura was instantly alert. The other girl had thrown a bunch of senbon - Sakura was too far to see how many - and the bells attached to them rang clearly, adding to Sakura's disorientation. Cursing, Sakura ducked behind a tree trunk, before tucking a hand into her thigh pouch. Pulling out a smoke bomb, she tossed it into the clearing where Kin was and waited for it to set off before shunshining right in front of her opponent.

The Oto-nin sensed slight movement and swiped a punch, which completely missed, but was enough for her swipe away some smoke. She caught a glance of Sakura's cloak's movement, and the Oto-nin launched forwards, tackling the Konoha-nin.

But Sakura disappeared in a poof of white smoke. "Clone," Kin cursed, rearming herself with more senbon between her fingers.

Sakura appeared right behind her. "Here."

Kin whirled around, arm outstretched. Sakura ducked under the senbon that the Oto-nin had thrown, before forming seals and placing a genjutsu on the set of Kins in front of her. The Oto-nin realised that the other girl hadn't dispelled her genjutsu, which meant that the Konoha-nin was still under the influence of her genjutsu. Sakura definitely wouldn't waste chakra by just randomly aiming at a mirror image; Kin could easily dodge that. That only left widespread attacks, which included genjutsu and wider elemental jutsus.

Sakura quickly shunshined out of the area, appearing above the smoke, crouching on a branch. Kin was whirling around, trying in vain to attack genjutsu-created clones. Sakura smiled to herself. It was the same one she used against Kakashi earlier that week. It created fake 'clones' that looked like they were attacking, and unless Kin was a sensor, she wouldn't be able to to tell the difference between real clones and the genjutsu.

The Haruno narrowed her eyes. She wondered how the boys were going.

|/\|\/|

They weren't doing so well.

Well, not as well as they thought they'd be.

Somewhere along the line, Naruto and Sasuke got split up, both of them led away from the other.

"Whoa," Naruto dodged, "that arm's cool."

Zaku Abumi, a member of Team Dosu from Otogakure, was puffing and cursing at how this hyperactive idiot still had energy after dodging almost every attack Zaku had sent at Naruto. If fact, the Jinchuriki was trying to catch his breath too, but the boy put up a facade, having learnt to calm his breathing down during one of his session with Yugao, who was a sensor in the ANBU.

This boy's strong.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Obviously. Got any ideas, Kyuubi? Naruto had only recently discovered that he could 'project' his thoughts out in his mind as a form of communication with the Kyuubi, which was something that he was grateful for. He's had enough of people looking at him as if he was crazy because it looked like he was talking to no one, or even ghosts.

Let me-

Next.

Naruto could almost see the Kyuubi rolling his eyes, even if the fox was in his mind and not in his line of sight. You didn't even hear me out, brat.

The Konoha-nin spun around, instantly running up a nearby tree and launching off the top, flipping and landing gently behind Zaku, who had blasted with what seemed like full force and completely tore apart the tree's lower half.

You were about to say something like taking over my body- Naruto cut himself off to summon clones. -and that's the worst idea ever.

Now with a horde of Narutos behind him, Naruto started his attack. "One, three, five, four, seventeen, left! Two, four, six, ten, nine, eight, seven, eleven, right! Twelve, eighteen, six, oh who cares, everyone left, forwards!"

Zaku tried to keep track of all the numbers, blasting the ones that ran straight at him.

Naruto grinned. Now, this was why he loved playing with numbers like this. It was just to confuse his opponents; why the hell would he number his clones anyways? Only a freaking idiot would do that. Oh, didn't he say six twice? Whoops. At least Zaku was an uneducated brat who didn't realise.

Kit, what about that new jutsu you learnt the other day from that Asuma dude?

Naruto frowned. Asuma-sensei? What did I learn again?

That wind-clone jutsu, remember? You complete idiot. Do you need-

Naruto's eyes suddenly widen, and he grins. I get it, thanks Kyuubi! Dispelling half his clones, with ten still battling Zaku, who was quite efficiently destroying all of them, Naruto's hands blurred into a set of seals before reforming the clone seal.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto bellowed, rushing forwards, with a set of three clones behind him.

Zaku scoffed. "More clones? Do you have a clone fetish or something? Bitch."

Shooting out sound waves from his hands, Zaku almost cackles with glee. Naruto panicked. Idiot, sound waves ride on air. Jeez, aren't humans supposed to be smart?

Naruto's eyes widened before his hands blurred together to creates seals. "Futon: Daitoppa!"

The large gust of wind threw Zaku's attack off course, veering it off upwards, leaving Naruto a clear path. Naruto grinned, pulling out two kunai and spinning them in his hand easily, the weapon familiar in his hands. "Attack, my fellow clones!"

Fellow clones? Naruto could hear the faint laughter of the Kyuubi in his ears. You're not even a clone.

Naruto did the only mature thing he knew how to do. He poked his tongue out. Zaku thought it was for him, and it completely angered him. Forcing enough chakra into his arms, he let out a burst of air waves that shot out like a death ray from his body in all directions, completely decimating the clones around him.

Naruto grinned, shunshining right before the waves hit him, appearing behind a tree and crouching down lower, tucking nicely into his cloak. Just as the waves stopped, Naruto poked his head around the tree stump - Zaku's attack had cut the poor tree in half - and smiled, satisfied with his work. The Oto-nin stumbled, blinking, confused as to why he was the one to sustain damage.

Coughing up blood, the Oto-nin face-planted into the ground, completely knocked out.

Naruto stood up, stretching. That was close.

Kurama snorts. As if. You just panicked, that's why it was a close call. If you had used those exploding clones earlier then-

I get it, Naruto sighed, I get it.

The second wave of clones were ones that were infused with a kind of air pressure, and when they were destroyed, they would explode with what Asuma - a fellow wind affinity Konoha-nin - called 'the force of three explosion tags'. It used a lot of chakra, hence why Asuma could only summon ten-eleven if he had to, but Naruto, if he was to refine his control, would be able to summon more. But with his sloppy control, he could only summon a maximum of five, if he wasn't sustaining any other jutsu.

The Uzumaki spread out his chakra range, before realising Sasuke was done too with his fight, as the other Konoha-nin was by the campsite again, with no foreign signature anywhere. Shunshining to Sasuke's side, Naruto grinned and gave the Uchiha a thumbs up.

"How'd it go?"

Sasuke was puffing, lying down beside the dying fire. "It was fine."

"Liar." Naruto poked his tongue out, settling beside his teammate. "You're still out of breath."

Sasuke scowled. "How'd you go?"

Sakura appeared beside the duo, also out of breath. Naruto shrugged. "Me? I'm fine. That Oto dude wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be. I just used a bunch of clones."

"My opponent was tough," Sakura mused, "she was pretty good with her senbon and genjutsu."

"Really?" Naruto frowned. "My dude just shot soundwaves. I used clones to distract him and then whoosh! I used my wind stuff to defeat him."

Sasuke winced, sitting up. "Lucky. You're compatible. Dosu was exceptionally good at using sound waves, and I almost lost instantly when he used sound to figure out my movements and making me dizzy."

"Same here," Sakura nods. "Sound is important in their attacking arsenal. The girl used bells on her senbon to confuse me."

Naruto yawned. "So, can we sleep now? Replenishing our reserves and energy sounds really good right. I'll even volunteer to take the second watch!"

Sakura looked at him. "Why not."

Sasuke unsteadily stood up, before his eyes shot wide open and he turned around with a kunai, narrowly blocking an attack. Naruto shot up onto his feet, but then his feet gave away and he collapsed, eyes fluttering close. Sakura shot to his side, cursing at the lack of light now that the sun had set and pulled Naruto closer to the fire.

"We're still under attack?" Sasuke frowned. "What's wrong with him?"

Sakura gulped, examining Naruto's foot. "Poison. Nothing like I'd seen before. We need to get out of here. Get an antidote."

"I've got their scroll," Sasuke tossed the Earth scroll to Sakura, "we'll head to the tower now. It's close by, right?"

"It should be to the north-west," Sakura nods, tying a piece of chakra wire onto Naruto's mid-calf, infusing her chakra into it, tightening it so the poison would spread slower. Slipping the green scroll into her thigh pouch, Sakura made sure that their Heaven scroll was still there before pulling Naruto over her shoulder and standing up unsteadily. She turned to Sasuke. "We need to-"

She broke off, body completely still.

"Walk slowly, that's right, backwards."

Sakura obeyed the order, slowly retreating.

"That's nice. Drop the boy."

Sakura hesitated.

"Didn't you hear me, girl?"

The kunai dug deeper into Sasuke's throat, and the Uchiha growled. Sakura quickly but gently lay Naruto on the ground and continued to step one by one, inching backwards.

"Good."

Orochimaru sneered.

"Now I'm leaving you conscious so you can tell your precious sensei," Orochimaru's tongue extended, and Sakura blanched. "That I've gotten to his student. Yeah?"

Sakura nods timidly. The pure KI emitting from the man was enough to freeze her in her steps, and she knew it was just to intimidate her, not to scare her enough to run away. But this KI wasn't just nothing. It was enough to make the air freeze, but not enough at the same time to show what his affinity was.

"Good." Orochimaru bared his teeth. "Now just stay there..."

With lightning-fast movements, Orochimaru dropped the kunai and bit right into Sasuke's neck. Just as the knife hit the ground with a soft clang, the Sannin was gone, the Uchiha out of his grasp. Sakura shot forwards, just managing to catch the boy as he swayed and dropped to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! See you all next week! Also, I'd like some advice, for the Sasuke 'goes crazy and almost kills his teammates, I've been thinking, should I pull it out? I kind of panicked back there, because I didn't know how to end the training fight...  
> So I was thinking about rewriting it. Any ideas and advice?  
> Thanks!
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	11. Chunin in the Chunin Exams, III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 finishes the second phase; Kakashi brings in the first Ro member; Hiruzen announces somewhat of an important announcement.

Naruto groggily woke up, feeling the pain in his foot almost instantly. He looked around. They were near their campsite, but deeper in the trees and the lake was just barely visible by the sparkling of the sun's reflection on the water.

His eyes shot wide open. "Teme!"

"Right here," Sasuke was sitting up, propped against a tree, a tired look on his face. "Finally woke up, hmm?"

Naruto crawled over, before looking down at his leg in confusion. "Why does it hurt so much?"

Sakura appeared, walking towards them from the lake, both Naruto and Sasuke's cloaks in her hands. "It's because of the poison. You're awake. Sasuke, are you good to get going?"

Sasuke nods. "Let's get to the tower."

"Why didn't we go earlier?" Naruto stood up shakily, careful not place all the weight on his right foot. "You coulda just carried me anywhere."

"Not with Sasuke out too," Sakura shook her head, "I can't move you too much or the poison will spread, and in some cases, chakra will speed up your blood rush, so I can't shunshin. Not to mention, I had no idea what the Sannin's cursed seal would do to Sasuke, so I couldn't exactly just go anywhere."

"Sannin?" Despite graduating dead last in the Academy graduation - which was only a mere four and a half months ago, Naruto wasn't as stupid as many people thought he was. "Orochimaru? What did he do to teme?"

"Don't go around tossing names like that," Sakura hissed,

Naruto looked closer at Sasuke. "Did he give you a hickey?"

"Naruto!" Sakura reprimanded, but a small smile crept onto her face.

Sasuke scowled, turning the slightest shade of pink. "He did _not_ give me a hickey. It looks like one of the cursed seals that Gato had."

Sakura sighed, tossing the boys their cloaks, which they noted was all clean. Sasuke peered up at her. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Of course not!" Sakura crossed her arms, the bags under her eyes visible. "You think I can sleep when this idiot could go into any state because he's got poison in his system? Not to mention I have no idea what'll happen when someone gets a cursed mark! And these cloaks! Don't even get me started! When was the last time you cleaned it, hmm? Yours still has all that blood from the infiltration mission ages ago!" Sakura pointed menacingly at Sasuke. "And you! What's with all the ramen stains?! You'd better be grateful that we're near a lake, idiots!"

Both boys bowed their heads down. "Hai."

"Good." Sakura puffed. "Now, Blue, can you stand up?"

Sasuke blinked. "I haven't been called that in ages." Standing up, the Uchiha stumbled slightly, swaying to the right, almost toppled over, but then steadied himself. "I'm good."

"Let's head for the tower," Sakura look in the direction of the tower. "We need that antidote. My chakra wire can only do so much."

Naruto grinned. "Are we shunshining?"

Sasuke nods. "Let's hurry up."

The team easily _shunshined_ to the bottom of the tower, but then Naruto's whole right leg was a dark purple, which was an effect of using chakra while having poison in his system, as diagnosed by their resident medical-nin. Sakura was instantly on 'doctor' mode, fussing about, using chakra to determine where the poison was up to, and quickly adjusted her chakra wire. All three of them exchanged a look. They needed to hurry up, but couldn't make Naruto use chakra. Staying the night in the forest was a good idea as a team, but not for Naruto as an individual, who needed medical attention.

"Hello?" Sakura called out, climbing to the top of the tower. No one was there. Naruto groaned, plopping onto the ground with Sasuke's help, wincing as he completely couldn't feel his leg; Sakura's chakra wire was making his whole leg numb now that she moved it up to his thigh. Sasuke peers up at the large open scroll on the wall, looking for some sign to finish the second phase.

He read it out. "If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the field and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of 'the one that guides'. It shall lead you on your way."

"Open the scrolls." Sakura frowned. "That's the way, I think."

Naruto chuckled dryly. "Can you hurry up? My leg..."

"Got it." Sakura unfurled the two scrolls, instantly recognised the scrolls' seals from their fuinjutsu basics class with Kakashi a while ago, and tossing the scrolls to the side. "It's a summoning jutsu. Most likely for a teacher."

With a poof of grey smoke, a tall ninja appeared, and all three instantly were on guard with weapons in their hands, even though Naruto still stayed on the floor. The ninja waved.

"Yo." Kakashi eye-smiled. "How'd it go?"

The jonin took in their appearances. Sakura looked a little ruffled up, with her hair in a messy bun and clothing dusty and dirty. But she looked the best. Sasuke was a little paler than normal, and he had also acquired a wierd new habit to rub his neck using his right hand. He also looked quite disorientated. Naruto looked the worst. His right leg was turning a shade of purple-black, and he was sweating like mad. Poison?

"It went okay," Sasuke answered, relaxing his guard and slipping his kunai into his thigh pouch.

Kakashi eyed Naruto. "Is that poison?"

"Correct." Sakura frowned. "We ran into...er..."

Sasuke rubbed his neck. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, before giving Sasuke a curt nod. The Uchiha slowly removed his hand, showing his new tattoo, which made Kakashi's demeanour change. The jonin cleared his throat. "Let's get this done and over with. Congratulations on surviving the second phase of the Chunin Exams. You'll proceed to the third phase at the end of the week."

Then he frowned. "That's all for now. Let's get you to the Hokage office; the old man's waiting for you and I've got Himari-chan on standby because you three are bound to get into trouble. And I'm right."

"Himari?" Sasuke asked.

"Himari-san!" Sakura grinned. "She was supposed to teach me medical ninjutsu!"

"Supposed to?" Naruto let out a soft groan as Kakashi picked the boy up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kakashi inclines his head. "Exactly what it's supposed to mean. Himari-chan was supposed to teach Sakura but since she's ANBU, she only taught for a couple of days before needing to leave on a mission."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "That's awesome! How'd you meet her?"

"I was her taichou," Kakashi said, before turning to Sakura. "Can I shunshin with this idiot?"

Sakura shook her head. "The poison was only in his ankle but when we teleported here it extended to his whole leg."

Kakashi nods. "You two, get to the tower. I'll run."

The two other chunin nod and make a seal before shimmering and disappearing. Within that moment, Kakashi had exited the tower and started to make his way to the Hokage tower. Naruto's head bobbed up and down without strength as he was carried through the air, blond hair flying everywhere.

"Sensei?" Naruto looked up at Kakashi.

The jonin looked down for a moment before looking back up to see where he was going. "Yes?"

"Sakura did a lot for us," Naruto told him, "I think teme and I were dragging behind."

"Really?" Kakashi ducked under a bird.

Naruto nods groggily. "We ran into the Oto guys," he swallowed, "and she was targeted because she's our 'weak link'. I don't think we knew, but I think we just plastered a huge target on her back, sensei. Oh, and then we ran into that bastard who bite teme, then both of us were knocked out. She took care of us for the whole night." Naruto's eyes fluttered close. "Didn't sleep. Even cleaned our cloaks..."

"That's nice." Kakashi eye-smiled. Sakura really did remind him of Himari. Other than the contrasting personalities, both of them acted like the mum of their teams.

Naruto smiled, giving a weak thumbs up. "She's great, dattebayo." Then he opens his eyes slightly. "Can teme and I learn something to help? It seems like we're doing a lot of getting into trouble and she pulls us out."

Kakashi looks forwards, seeing the tower coming into sight. He placed some chakra on the soles of his feet, and the tower grew larger quickly as he ran faster.

"You know what you can do?" Naruto's eye close again.

"Stop thinking of her as just defence."

Naruto shifted, but let Kakashi talk. "Not that you're being discriminative, you two _are_ thinking of her as a teammate, and equally. Yet you'll move in front of her if danger appears, even if it's just subconsciously. Sometimes you'll give her the weaker opponent. She probably won't even realise, she won't notice."

Kakashi stopped, landing lightly on the tower's roof. "I don't know why, but all of us do it. Is it because our teammate's female? Or is it because they started off as the weak link and even if they're improving, it's still in our brains that they're still weaker than us? Or maybe they're targeted the most? Bigger clan name? No clan at all?" Kakashi sighed, before dropping down outside of the Hokage's window and waving to the people inside. "It's something we need to manually change. Initiate it ourselves."

He entered the office with a smile. "Yo, Sandaime-sama, brats, Himari-chan."

"Taichou." Himari smiles, waving. "Bring the Uzumaki over."

Naruto cracked an eye open as Kakashi placed Naruto on the ground gently, and Himari made her way over to sit down next to the boy. "Hinata-chan?"

The woman laughed. "No, no. I'm Himari Hyuga, nice to meet you."

Naruto gave her a weak thumbs up. "Nice to meet you, dattebayo."

"Look at his leg!" Himari reprimanded. "Taichou! You should've-"

"Hai, hai," Kakashi shrugged. "But you can fix it, right?"

Himari narrowed her eyes, her hands coated in green light hovered over the spot where the poison entered his system. "You're lucky it's one that was found when the traitor was exposed; it's one of his snake experiments. We have the antidote." The woman stands up, signature white eyes closing before she _shunshins_ away.

"One that we do know?" Hiruzen frowns.

Kakashi nods. "It seems like he didn't want to kill Naruto." The jonin looks at his poisoned student. "He knows that I'm his sensei, that I have access to a lot of high-ranking things, and that my connections can easily spread over the wide range of shinobi." Kakashi clenched his fist. "I don't like being used as a pawn."

His two other students exchange looks. It never occurred to them that their sensei could be used as a pawn, but thinking about it now, Kakashi was still another human being, even if he was a talented shinobi and had a freakishly good reputation. And Orochimaru, debatably, was stronger and more influential than their sensei was.

The Hokage let out a smokey breath. "Well, it's good that you're aware."

Himari reappears in the spot she disappeared, with a vial of bubbling cyan liquid inside. "Alright. Taichou, standby."

"Got it." Kakashi smiled. He hasn't worked with one of his old teammates in a long time, that is if you exclude Genma, who he works with on what was pretty much a monthly basis. Sakura watched in wonder as the Hyuga works with speed and efficiency, and even Sasuke was keeping an eye on the medical ninjutsu. It was like a complete step up from how Kakashi showed them; it was fast but accurate and it needed such concentration and precision that it was almost scary at how nonchalant Himari looked.

"She's amazing," Sakura fangirled, "she found the puncture spot so quickly and determined the poison almost instantly too!"

Sasuke grunts. "Agreed."

"And she's so _fast_!" It was like the girl's eyes had turned into literal star shapes.

Kakashi chuckled, ruffling her hair. "You should see her when she's under extreme pressure."

"Really?" Sakura turned to him. "Is she faster?"

Sasuke snorts. "Is that even possible?"

"Much faster." Kakashi smiled.

"Well," Himari claps her hands, finished, "I wouldn't be in Team Ro if I wasn't that good."

"Team Ro?" Sasuke looked at his sensei. "Your team?"

"Best of the best," Himari says proudly. "Formed under the Fourth Hokage as an elite team who operates only under orders of the Hokage."

Sasuke nods, interested. "That's impressive."

"Course," Kakashi tapped the Uchiha's head. "What'd you expect? I was the taichou."

His two students give him deadpan looks. The silver-haired man shrugged. "That was before I got into _Icha Icha_."

"Please," Himari rolled her eyes, "you were always into _Icha Icha_. Ever since Jiraiya came back for Lord Fourth's funeral."

Kakashi shrugged again. Then the Sandaime stepped, placing a hand on Himari's shoulder. "I called you all to meet here for a reason."

"Sorry for ignoring you," Kakashi said bluntly.

Himari winced. "Er, right."

The Hokage laughed. "No, no, it's fine. It's refreshing to see you all clicking together easily."

"Well?" Naruto sat up slowly. "Hey, my leg's all good!"

"Don't over exert it too much," Himari warned, "it's still going through-"

"Got it!" Naruto grinned. "I just won't understand what you'll say next so I cut you off!"

The Hyuga smiled dryly. "He's really something."

"Agreed," Sasuke muttered.

"Jiji," Naruto grinned, "what are you going to say? Are we being promoted to jonin? Ooo ooo, maybe ANBU?!"

"Jonin," Kakashi snorts, "you're a long way away from that."

Naruto poked his tongue out, bounding up onto her feet. "Sensei! Think positively! Stop being such a pessimist!"

"I think realistically," Kakashi corrected.

"I've decided who'll be the Fifth Hokage." The Sandaime smiled. "I am getting old, after all."

All of the ninja present went silent, eyes alert and ears listening intently. This was a large topic. Himari knew already what the Sandaime was going to say, the chunin had a good idea, but Kakashi was just oblivious. Hiruzen grinned, clapping the tall jonin on the shoulder.

"It's going to be you, Kakashi."

The chunin cheered, and Himari congratulated him. It was pretty obvious to those who were active around the Fourth's demise, having seen Kakashi and the Sandaime working side by side and probably getting through the most cases within five years ever. Kakashi was going to be a Hokage. It was just a matter of when. It became a bet in Team Ro; those who thought he'd be the Fifth, and those who thought he'd be the Sixth. But the problem was just evaluating Kakashi's psychological state, as he was pretty unsteady back in his ANBU days, still reeling from all the deaths that came at him with force that was greater than the one before.

Himari grinned. "Now Ko and Yugao owe me twenty bucks."

Kakashi blinked. "Are you serious about me as Hokage?"

"Please," Sakura answered for the current Hokage, "I don't know much about other the jonin, but I think you're pretty qualified."

Kakashi chuckled. "That could be a biased thought, I _am_ your sensei."

"Well," the Sandaime smiled, "you _are_ my student's student's student. Not to mention, Sakumo was a good friend of mine. I've known you since you were in your mother's womb, Kakashi. There's no other person more suited for the Hokage spot."

Kakashi was silent for a while, as Naruto kept asking questions - "Is that really all you need to be Hokage? So if sensei says I can be the next Hokage, I'll be the next Hokage?!" - and Sasuke replied to all of them - "Dobe, it's not that easy. You have to prove yourself. Be as good as sensei, and then he _might_ consider you as a candidate." - all while Sakura and Himari started to talk, both of them enthusiastically talking about which one of their teammates were worst at being reckless.

Hiruzen looked at the Hatake. How was he taking this? "Any questions?"

Kakashi opened his mouth. Hiruzen waited for a rejection. "When's the inauguration?"

The Sandaime blinked. Then he smiled. "It'll be after the exams."

"That soon?" Kakashi nods slowly. "Alright. Now I've got to mentally prepare myself for eighty thousand people scrutinising me."

"Sensei!" Naruto grinned, giving the man a thumbs up. "I won't scrutinise you!"

"As if I would," Sasuke says.

"Me either." Sakura chimes, before returning to listening to Himari recount that one time Ko - one of the member of Team Ro - did something so stupid the whole team had to continue the mission for the next two months.

Hiruzen smiled, turning to Kakashi. The jonin eye-smiles. "Well then, a little under eighty thousand people."

"That's more like it!" Naruto cheered.

"Oi, brats." Kakashi bonked all three of them on their heads. "You've got the whole day left to train."

Naruto groaned. "Training? Seriously?"

Kakashi smiled. "Got a better suggestion?"

Sakura raised her hand. "Can I get my hair cut first? It's getting really annoying."

"Good idea." Sasuke stretched. "And I need to clean the compound."

Naruto paled. "My apartment..."

"Good." Kakashi smiled. "I'll see you all at Ichiraku's for dinner at six."

"Hai!"

"Sasuke," Kakashi nods at the Uchiha. "I want to talk to you."

Sasuke nods back, and the other members of Team 7 say their farewells and Himari _shunshins_ back to ANBU headquarters, leaving the Sandaime, Kakashi and Sasuke in the office. Bowing to the Hokage, Sasuke looked at his sensei, who sighs.

"Alright, we're going to go to Ground Twenty." Kakashi nods, before _shunshining_ away.

Sasuke followed, and he appeared in a room completely devoid of anything. It was just six metal walls, all connecting to each other, with a simple metal door in one of the walls. It was like a metal cage without bars, just simple walls. Sasuke looked around. "What are we doing, sensei?"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "That curse mark. Do you want to seal it?"

"Do...I want to seal it?" Sasuke was confused. "Do I even have a choice?"

Kakashi shrugs, not answering. The Uchiha had thought he had to seal it, but he had a choice? Kakashi earlier on their Land of Waves mission had told the team that the curse seal was to give the subject more power but allows the sealer - in this case, it was Orochimaru - to gain control over the subject's body. For safety reasons, the only logical way to deal with the cursed seal is to keep it contained, and made sure it was under control.

"Sensei?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi smiled a little wider, and Sasuke suddenly thought it looked more sly than it usually did. "Do you want to seal it?"

"I don't...I don't have a choice," Sasuke says.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, you do. Do you want to seal it?"

"I..." Sasuke frowned. "I do?"

Kakashi stayed silent.

"What am I supposed to say? No? I don't want to seal it? Yes? I do seal it? Sensei, what kind of question is that?"

"Well," Kakashi shrugged, "it does give you power. Have you forgotten about your quest for revenge? Having the curse seal's power up will definitely boost you to become faster at getting onto Itachi's level."

"I haven't forgotten," Sasuke frowned, "I'm prioritising getting more strength first."

"The cursed seal can skip all that hard work," Kakashi reminded him. "Though you do give your body to Orochimaru, in a way."

Sasuke's eyes widen. "Can we say his name like that?"

"Oh, if he hears his name," Kakashi's eyes turn cold, "he'll know it's me saying it. And I bet he won't come for me just yet."

Sasuke gulped, nodding. "Right. Er..."

"It's your choice." Kakashi smiled again, this time much warmer. But Sasuke still felt like prey under the gaze of a predator, and he swallowed down his dry throat.

"I'll do it." Sasuke gave Kakashi a weird look. "Though why are you letting me choose?"

Kakashi grinned. "Alrighty. Let's get started."

"You haven't-"

Kakashi pulled out a brush and ink vial from his thigh pouch, before dipping the hair of the brush into the ink and started to draw seals onto the ground. Sasuke watched as the man quickly drew seal after seal, but the elaborate symbols didn't look rushed at all. They looked as if someone had actually spent some time to draw them. Yet as Kakashi simply brushed over it quickly, it still looked quite neat.

"Done." The jonin stepped back, evaluating his work. "Well, the advanced evil seal could use a little work, but it'll do. Come here, brat."

The Uchiha looked wary as he walked into the centre, careful not to set anything off. Kakashi gently eased Sasuke into a sitting position by pushing down the boy's shoulders. "Don't activate any chakra from now on, yeah? Otherwise the seal'll set off and this will all be for nothing."

"Hai," Sasuke nods. "Can you tell me though? Why did you let me chose?"

Kakashi's hands sped through the seals. "Well, this sealing method deals with cursed seals yes, but it all depends on the user's will. If you want to, then the seal will hold. If you want to use it, then there's no point in sealing it in the first place." The jonin shrugs, slamming his hand onto Sasuke's curse mark. "Not to mention, letting you chose will strengthen your will, either in a good way or bad way. It was a gamble, either you wanted to seal it or you wanted strength."

Sasuke let out a strangled scream as the seals turned a scorching red and started to move towards the boy.

"But I had faith in you," Kakashi smiled, stepping back, letting go of Sasuke's shoulder. "And I trusted you to make the right decision."

Sasuke gasped for air as he collapsed onto the ground, the seals crawling up his body. "A-arigato, s-sens-sei..."

Kakashi slipped an arm under the boy. "Alright, let's get you back to the Uchiha compound. You said something about cleaning up?"

"It was already clean," Sasuke admitted, "I just made an excuse for Red-d."

"That's nice." Kakashi ruffled Sasuke's hair, before _shunshining_ with the Uchiha to the entrance of the Uchiha Estate.

Sasuke huffed. "S-sensei, I can walk-k."

"I might be mistaken," Kakashi eye-smiled, "but you just stuttered, am I right?"

"Sensei!" Sasuke protested, but the man just chuckled and placed the boy back onto his feet.

"Enjoy cleaning up." Kakashi waved. "I'll see you at dinner."

Just as Sasuke was about to make the sign to shunshin, Kakashi tapped him on the head. "Don't use chakra just yet. Let the sealing method rest for a day or so, otherwise you'll just end up undoing all my hard work."

"Hai." Sasuke bowed, before making his way in the eerily quiet compound.

Kakashi smiled after the boy. The Uchiha was changing, and for the better. At least he no longer thought about revenge all the time. Kakashi looked up just as the Hokage's hawk arrives onto his arm, with a scroll attached to its leg. Kakashi unravelled it, before raising his eyebrows at the text. Mei chirped, nestling into the jonin, already familiar with the man since his late ANBU years.

So he was supposed to help evaluate the new ANBU candidates? That sounded interesting. Whistling to himself, Kakashi _shunshined_ away, leaving only a swirl of leaves behind him, and Mei launched into the air, flying back to the Sandaime.

**|/\|\/|**

Kakashi sat at Ichiraku's, yawning through his mask as he sat at the counter reading _Icha Icha_. He was starting to respect Yamato a little more, there were more egoists than he had expected in the exam.

"Sensei," Sasuke acknowledged, a slight smile on his face as he sits on the seat next to Kakashi. He winced a bit when he settled down onto seat, shifting his shoulders slightly, but the small content look didn't disappear.

The Hatake didn't miss it, even if there was no sign of him looking up from his book. "Found something while cleaning?"

Sasuke nods. "I found this." The boy slid a photo across the table, and the jonin snapped his book close to get a good look at it. Then the man chuckles.

"The old ANBU shot, hmm?" There was a young thirteen-year-old Itachi Uchiha in the centre, with a twenty-one-year-old Kakashi's arm slung around the boy's shoulder. Then there was a twenty-year-old Himari to Itachi's left, and next to her was a broad-shouldered twenty-two-year-old Ko with his flaming red hair. Then there was the eldest; Genma at age twenty-four beside Kakashi, signature smirk on his face.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi. "So Itachi was part of Team Ro?"

"Good times." Kakashi smiles, yet was a little tentative on the subject as Sasuke was still a victim of the Uchiha Massacre. "Talented kid. Liked to be too serious all the times. Like you."

"How is that like me?" Sasuke scowled, seemingly opening up a little to a conversation about his brother.

"Yo, Sasuke and sensei!" Naruto appeared, brushing past the entrance banner and plopping on the seat next to Sasuke. "Have you ordered yet?"

"No." Kakashi smiled. "I was waiting for you all."

Naruto grinned. "So like, the miso ramen with extra pork is my favourite, but I think teme should try the soy sauce one with the salted egg and seaweed! You like salty things, right?"

"I was going to order that," Sasuke nods.

"Mother, please-"

"Where is this Kakashi Hatake? I want to see him."

Kakashi turned around. "Hello, I'm Kakashi."

There stood Sakura's mother, in all her glory, wearing quite bright clothing that matched her daughter's red qipao that Sakura was wearing. The woman crossed her arms, smiling coldly. "Nice to meet you, Hatake-san."

Kakashi smiled the same smile back, and the Haruno realised that's where her daughter learnt the 'glare coated in sugar', as Sakura's brother called it. "My pleasure, Haruno-san."

"Mother," Sakura sighed.

"Take a seat." Kakashi eye-smiled at his student. "The boys were just about to order."

"Oi," Naruto grinned, "nice haircut Sakura-chan!"

The girl smiled. She had cut her hair into a bob, and it barely reached her collarbone. "Thanks, baka. What were you two going to order?"

"Let's talk outside," Kakashi offers, just as Sasuke started to inform his female teammate of their preferences. Mebuki Haruno agreed. She has heard of this famed Copy-nin of course, he was rumoured to be one of the best ever. But even if she was content to an extent that her daughter was being taught by the best, she was not happy at all that Sakura was a kunoichi at all.

Mebuki followed the tall man out of Ichiraku's stall and across the street, where it was quieter. The woman spoke first. "I do not approve of Sakura as a kunoichi."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! See you all next week~
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	12. Chunin in the Chunin Exams, IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi is a stubborn guy; Team 7 become makeshift senseis; the preliminary rounds finally roll around.

This was obvious. It was obvious ever since Mebuki stepped into the stall. She had that disapproving air around her, something a trained shinobi like Kakashi wouldn't miss. Plus, he had also been warned when Sakura first opened her mouth to say that she only became a kunoichi just to prove to her family her worth and that shinobi weren't completely useless just because her brother couldn't do it.

"I do not approve," Mebuki repeats.

Kakashi nods respectfully. "It seems so. But Sakura likes being a kunoichi, no?"

The Haruno couldn't exactly disagree. Her daughter was returning home exhausted but happier each day. "I don't think it's needed for her to do such extensive work. She'll be much better put to use as a Haruno heir. Not to mention, she cut her hair just for convenience."

There was no tone of bitterness or distaste, Mebuki's voice was fully neutral. But Kakashi was a shinobi, trained to speak like that himself, and it was obvious that the hair-cutting was the last straw. "I may not know a lot about Haruno traditions, but is cutting her hair a large impact on the family?"

"Of course." Mebuki touched her lavish blonde hair, which reached her waist. "It has always been a tradition to have our hair longer than our shoulders. The longer, the better. But this time, for the first time in hundreds of years, one of our female members cut hers shorter than the shoulder."

Kakashi nods. "I understand. But talking as a shinobi, having shorter hair is much easier to manage than long."

"She could've put it up in a bun or pony-tail," Kakashi could hear the Haruno losing her control over her voice as it cracked with anger, "or even quit! Hatake-san, I'd like it if you dropped my daughter as a student."

Kakashi was expecting this. He had expected it ever since being informed of having Sakura Haruno, the second heir to the Haruno clan, as a student. The man sighed. "Unfortunately, I cannot-"

"Don't lie to me," Mebuki crossed her arms, "I know that jonin senseis have a lot of power over their students. Including having the power of dropping one of their own students."

"Let me rephrase." Kakashi wiped his face off of the small smile he had on and left it scarily blank. "I will not drop Sakura. She has amazing potential, not just in the attacking department. She's got an affinity for medical ninjutsu, something that hasn't been seen in a while. With both talents in genjutsu and medical ninjutsu, this is an opportunity not to be missed for her. She loves being a kunoichi too, and if you'd let me continue..."

Mebuki stays silent. Kakashi takes that as a sign to speak.

"She's found friends at the Academy, and if I push it, a second family in my - our team. She may give one of them an unappealing nickname, reprimand the other everyday, but they both know she means well. She's learnt to value others over her achievements, and she's sharpening her abilities quite quickly."

Kakashi steeled his face into a poker face. "Might I add, being a kunoichi isn't all bad. These things she learns, it'll carry her throughout her life, whether she likes it or not."

"Lovely arguments," Mebuki admits, "but you haven't convinced me."

"Is this to do with your first son?" Kakashi asked coolly.

The Haruno flinched. "Excuse me?"

"I have asked Sakura about her reason of being a kunoichi, of course." Kakashi locked the woman in her eyes. "It was to prove herself to you and your husband, and of course, her older brother."

Mebuki frowned. "That has nothing to do with this. I cannot stress this enough, I _do not approve_." She took in a deep breath. "Please, Hatake-san, give up on my daughter."

Kakashi smiles, which put the Haruno alert. "Even if I did, I don't think the boys would. You see, Naruto, the blond hyperactive one, has this dream to be Hokage. He wants his team beside him at all costs, and both of them have already agreed to be there for him when things get rough. Sasuke, the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre, is going through quite a hard time, and having his teammates around him is steadying him. You see, Sakura's done something for them both. The two boys know. They see. They're looking for something to repay her for her efforts, and if it just so happens that she's forced out of a shinobi life by her mother, they'll fight. And they know, Haruno-san. They know that she loves it. That she loves the sense of adventure, the sense of having people to trust with your life."

The jonin said it with the most emotion-filled monotone he could. He was saying this from experience. It was something he himself had felt himself. His very first ANBU captain had asked the Yondaime to pull Kakashi out of ANBU, saying that he was too young and was still grieving. But Kakashi loved being shinobi, and having Minato back him up was like a real-life dream, and to hear almost the same words Minato had said to that captain that Kakashi had said to Sakura's mother coming from his own mouth, he could say with utmost confidence that he had matured as a teacher.

Kakashi bowed. "I will promise to you that I will try my very best to bring out all of the potential in Sakura Haruno, and hopefully you'll see just how bright your daughter will shine."

"If you'll excuse me," Kakashi says, "I have a dinner to eat with my team."

Mebuki gives Kakashi a stern look, before sighing. "I want results. And I want them fast."

Kakashi thought back to his team's - unofficial until the end of the Chunin Exams - promotion to chunin, and his plans to get Tsunade, known as the master of medical ninjutsu, to teach Sakura. Those would be good results.

"Guaranteed." Kakashi nods, bows again to which Mebuki bows back to, and he walks back to Ichiraku's. He could already hear Naruto's cheering and Sakura's yelling, and Sasuke's silhouette shaking his head. Kakashi smiled. He didn't want to lose his team, even if at the beginning, they were ordered to pass from higher-ups. It was something that he would fight for, something that he'll protect. He didn't protect his own team until it was falling apart, and so he'd try his best to preserve his own Team 7. It didn't matter if he had to make a few promises here and there, because he'd fulfil them and show those people just how good his team could be.

**|/\|\/|**

The next day, Team 7 were back in the Hokage's office, this time wearing this official team uniform. There were some slight differences in the clothing, like how Naruto had scroll pouches, Sakura had a medical kit on her waist, and Sasuke had a katana strapped to his back, as well as the Konoha symbol etched onto the metal plates on the back of their hands. Simple upgrades.

Kakashi was already lounging in the Hokage's seat, swinging around on the comfortable chair. "Maa, I could get used to this."

"Sensei," Sakura frowned, "are you sure you're able to do that?"

Kakashi smiled. "It's alright. I'm not officially the Hokage-" He winced. "-but I need practice, I'll be assigning missions to you brats now. Your first mission, hmm, let's see, it'll be a C-rank."

"C-rank?" Naruto grinned.

"That's right." Kakashi's smile disappeared, replaced with something darker. "We've got movement near Konoha, and from previous experiences, it's very much like an army. The Sandaime-sama has ordered all the available jonin to go on many more missions to gain more experience against various threats. ANBU are patrolling the outskirts of Konoha, and the chunin are now doing the various D-ranks with the lack of genin in the Chunin Exams."

"So I'm trusting you to do this for me," Kakashi gives them each a scroll. "I want you to keep an eye on the rest of the Konoha teams. Dress in your uniform, don't show them your identity."

"This is..." Naruto looks at his scroll. "Team 8's receiving end scroll?"

"Correct. If they pass, I want you three to appear." Kakashi nods.

"I've got Team 10," Sasuke noted.

"And I've got last year's Team 3," Sakura read. "So we're the ones who tell them the news that they passed?"

The next Hokage nods. "Kurenai and Asuma have gotten a mission earlier today and Gai's off training a bunch of ANBU." He pauses, before adding, "Never underestimate Konoha's Green Beast's training."

Naruto sighed. "Do we have to, sensei? Can't we train?"

"Think of this as a type of training," Kakashi shrugs. "Now I have to go and get reports from the ANBU which are patrolling, Sandaime's orders. Don't scare your comrades too bad, yeah?"

"No guarantee," Sasuke smirks. "What do we do as we wait?"

"That's up to you." Kakashi waves. "See ya."

He _shunshins_ away, leaving the team there. Sakura looks at her team. "I was thinking we keep a closer look at the Chunin Exams. It's like what Sandaime-sama said, there could be people inside the exam who are involved with the movement outside of Konoha. We can also scout out the the abilities of the other contestants while we're at it."

"Agreed." Sasuke nods. "Should we split up?"

"Meetcha all at twelve at the top of the tower!" Naruto grinned. "I'll bring lunch."

Sakura smiled. "Well, that's decided. See you two later."

Sasuke watched as his teammates _shunshined_ away, swearing at his curse seal. He couldn't shunshin just yet, it hasn't been a full forty-eight hours, and the Uchiha wouldn't risk the curse mark activating. Sighing, he started to run, arriving at Ground Forty-Four about ten minutes later. He knew he wasn't a sensor like Naruto, so he took to using his superb eyesight and looked from above. Crouching on a particularly tall pine tree, Sasuke found it more time consuming actually balancing on the top than finding a team to stalk. Thankfully no one noticed him wobble on the tree.

Activating his Sharingan, even the slightest movements were suddenly painfully obvious, and Sasuke pinpointed Team 10 quickly by looking for a large chubby person and a girl with the longest hair ever. Oh, not to mention the girl was wearing a painfully obvious purple outfit. Worked wonders.

Making sure that his movements were silent, Sasuke easily dropped down from his perch and fell to the ground with no sound before making his way to the Konoha team he was supposedly responsible for. He sighs. Who knows if they'll even pass?

Even though he knew none of them were sensors - well, Ino was nowhere near Naruto's skill - Sasuke made sure to squash down his chakra so he wouldn't be detected. He winced. It was getting harder and harder to get it as low as a civilian child's now. The boy easily climbed up a tree using just his feet and arrived swiftly on a branch just in front of Team 10, who were walking his way.

"Mmm," Choji groaned, "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry." Ino reprimanded.

Shikamaru yawned. "I wonder if any other Konoha teams passed already."

"Probably Sasuke-kun's team," Ino said dreamily, "after all, he's on that team!"

Sasuke winced, thankful for his black mask over his face. Wearing the uniform was something that he enjoyed. There was no one staring at his Uchiha crest with pity and an air of sympathy. It also allowed him to free his facial expressions; you never knew who was looking at you when you least expected it.

"But he's got Sakura and Naruto," Choji replied. "We all know that Sakura-chan might be smart, but she's not good practically. Who knows, can she even throw a kunai straight?"

Sasuke bit down on his growl. What did they know about Sakura's development and her new skillset? She could probably beat them all flat with the element of surprise on her side. But then Sasuke grinned. If they were to be pitted against each other in phase three - as a 'proctor' of the exams, Sasuke knew what was next when he completed the second phase - then that will be an interesting surprise that awaited them.

"Ah," Ino growled, "and Naruto-baka was dead last when we graduated. They're all going to pull Sasuke-kun down!"

Sasuke had to admit, he thought like that at the beginning too. Being paired up with a wuss and the dead last of the whole class, nothing would be worse. But Kakashi shaped them as a team, showed them their weaknesses, honed their strengths, and now they were unbelievably powerful for their age.

"But," Shikamaru said thoughtfully, "they have Kakashi Hatake. Hatake-sama is a very skilled individual."

Choji nudged his teammate. "Sounds like you're talking from experience."

"I play shogi with him once in a while," Shikamaru scowled, "and never won once."

Sasuke mentally raised his sensei's status up just a little higher. The man was already pretty high image in Sasuke's mind, as he was just appointed the Fifth Hokage. But to beat a Nara in shogi, even a child, that was an impressive achievement.

"What about your father?" Ino smiled. "He's never beaten Nara-san right?"

Shikamaru frowned, not answering. Ino gasped. "No way!"

"It was just once, and my father was drunk." Shikamaru defended, something Sasuke's never seen since the other boy was usually lazily responding and not giving any thought to whatever was happening around him. Kakashi's status went up again. Sasuke decided to tag along with team just a little longer. He could find some interesting thing about Kakashi, especially things he never knew about in the first place.

Unfortunately, Sakura didn't get to stalk a team, as when she spent about three minutes inside the training ground, Team 3's scroll instantly lit up as they completed the second phase.

She was just on top of the hill where her team was based when they were participating in the exams, and when her scroll unravelled itself and lit up. She stood there, slightly confused. Trusting her instincts, she stepped into it, while adjusting her hood and mask, before placing on a _henge_ to make her look taller and slightly wider. She couldn't look younger than the team she was going to face.

Sakura reappeared popping out of the scrolls, which put the whole team on guard. Of course, Sakura knew their names, as Team 7 had flipped through the files of their fellow chunin candidates. Making sure that her voice was slightly lower than usual, she cleared her throat, ignoring the bo staff that was pointed at her menacingly by Tenten.

"Congratulations, Team 3, on passing the second phase of the Chunin Exams." Sakura was thankful for her idea earlier that month to have the Konoha symbol on her gloves because she was sure the team would've thought she was ANBU from a different village. "You will proceed to the third phase at the end of the week."

Sakura turned to leave, but Tenten stopped her. "Er, are you a division of ANBU?"

The pink-haired girl turned around, not answering.

"Well," Tenten squeaked, intimidated, "the uniform you're wearing looks different to what I think is the normal uniform!"

Sakura opened her mouth, thinking of some sort of response to save herself. "I'm not part of the ANBU."

And she _shunshined_ away, leaving no trace of her ever being inside the tower. Neji narrowed his eyes. "That woman had a _henge_ on."

"Did she?" Tenten frowned.

"Maybe it was a man!" Lee proposed. "Henged as a woman! Amazing! Gender equality-"

"That has nothing to do with gender equality," Neji sighed. "We'll tell Gai-sensei later. Let's get some rest."

Tenten hummed. "I wonder if that rookie team passed already."

"What, the one that ran away?" Neji snorts. "No way."

Lee crossed his arms. "They're the most unyouthful team so far! How dare they deny the spring-"

"Enough." Tenten cut in. "I want to sleep."

"Agreed," Neji muttered. "Though I am still curious about why that woman needed to henge."

**|/\|\/|**

"We are holding a preliminary round." Hayate Gekko was explaining. "This time round, we have too many genin who have passed the first and second phase."

The genin were confused. "What do you mean, preliminary round?" Shikamaru asked.

"Exactly what it means," Hayate nods, "we will be holding another round before the third phase starts. Those not in the physical condition needed, you may choose to withdraw."

Team 7, who were lined up one after the other in the centre of the whole group, exchange a glance. All of them instantly understand each other. Sakura puts her hand up. Hayate looks, before his eyes widen slightly, recognising it as Kakashi's team. "Yes?"

"Sensei," Sakura sounded weak and tired, which was what she was aiming for. "If one of us withdraw, does the whole team withdraw?"

"Good question. No." Hayate coughs. "Only the participant will withdraw, not the whole team."

"I'll withdraw then," Sakura left her hand up. "I-I don't think I'm ready."

Everyone goes silent. Team 7, including Kakashi, has no outwardly sign of surprise, and neither did the Sandaime. But then the murmurs start, mostly started from the other Konoha teams, who all know Sakura on a more personal level.

"Interesting," the Sandaime said, turning to Kakashi. "Did you...?"

"A little," Kakashi said, before sighing. "Because of the suspicious things outside of the village, it's best to withdraw from the tournaments. You never know what'll happen. They also underestimate her, this'll add onto her show."

The Hokage nods. "Interesting."

Gai, Kurenai and Asuma stood near the two and caught small snippets of the conversation. It was no surprise about the suspicious movement; all jonin and ANBU were vaguely briefed about it, and then the patrols were almost tripled around the village. Only those three jonin knew about how hard Team 7's worked, and their results. Gai took them for a couple of sessions of taijutsu training, surprised at their will not to give up despite not being able to keep up with the jonin at all. Kurenai and Asuma both took one of the chunin, Sakura and Naruto respectively, as they taught genjutsu and wind-based chakra jutsu. It never ceased to amaze them when the students would bow and yell out 'arigato' before the end of the session, which was something Kakashi had drilled into them.

Sakura smiled unsurely at Kakashi. Kakashi smiles reassuringly at her, which everyone else interpreted as 'that's fine, we'll try next year' but what he was really showing was 'good job, that was really convincing, they'll think you're weak'.

Naruto sighed. "I'll withdraw too!" He tossed his hand up. "If Sakura-chan ain't ready, I ain't ready either!"

"That's two of Team 7's member's withdrawal." Hayate looks around. "Anyone else?"

"Me too," Kabuto Yakushi held up his hand. "I'm not ready either."

"Kabuto-san?" Naruto peered at the older teen. "Really? I think you're pretty good already!"

Kabuto laughed easily. "No, I'm not, really. Thanks."

"Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Kabuto Yakushi, all from Konoha, who's withdrawn." Hayate recounted. "Anyone else?"

No one said anything.

"Alright, would the three who withdrew please exit?" Hayate nods to the exit.

Sakura held up a hand. "Can we watch?"

Hayate looked at the Sandaime. The Hokage exchanges a glance with Kakashi, who simply glances back without so much of a reaction. The Sandaime then nods at Hayate. The proctor coughs, clearing his throat. "Right, you can."

"Yosh!" Naruto gave all of the other contenders a thumbs up. "Good luck, dattebayo!"

"C'mon, baka," Sakura said tiredly, and the three of them walk up the stairs to the balcony, standing in the centre of the railway, where the letters HATAKE were drawn onto the wall behind them.

"I can't believe they withdrew," Ino whispered.

Choji hums. "Sakura, I can kind of get. But Naruto? Didn't he want to become the Hokage or something? How does he plan on becoming the Hokage without being a chunin?"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. There was something off, like how half-heartedly Sakura had announced her withdrawal and how sudden Naruto's was, like it wouldn't have happened if Sakura's didn't withdraw. Not to mention, the Uzumaki didn't seem like the type to back out of a challenge just because his teammate did. But then the Nara looked at their sensei and cursed when he couldn't read anything off of the jonin's face. Kakashi smiled at the boy, almost knowingly.

"Then we have the rest of you getting ready for the matches." Hayate coughed again. "Please, make your way up. We will be doing one-on-one battles, which will be randomly assigned. Your sensei's names are in the spots where you will be waiting."

"Random?" Sakura nudged her teammates once Sasuke had arrived on the balcony. "Do you really think they're going to be random?"

Their team was huddled in the middle of the balcony, no teams near them. The closest was Team 8 to their left, and Team 3 to their right. Though none of them were looking at Team 7, all too busy scouting out their potential opponents. That was enough for Team 7 to decide that no one else could hear as long as they spoke quietly.

"I hope so," Sasuke narrows his eyes, "though it probably won't be."

Naruto nods. "How will they pair them up?"

"I think," Sakura nods forwards, "there."

All three of them shot a short glance towards where Sakura had pointed out. There was Kakashi, talking to Hayate, with the latter nodding along to whatever the silver-head was saying. Then they both nodded and it seemed like they were confirming things before Kakashi gave the kenjutsu specialist a smile.

"So this is part of the 'training'?" Naruto peered.

"I think so," Sakura nods, "I think it's to do with our age, y'know? Like if he becomes, whatever, after the exams, he'll have to host these sort of things once in a while."

"He seems to be doing well," Sasuke nods, before cracking his neck to a side and stretching.

Naruto squinted. "Hey, I think he's telling you something."

"He is?" Sasuke stopped moving, before glancing down at his sensei. The man gave his student a curt nod, before moving to stand beside the current Hokage, who commented to the jonin about something. The jonin merely smiled, before locking eyes with Sasuke.

"What's he saying?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know," Sasuke frowned, "I think he'll tell me later. Should I have withdrawn?"

Naruto shook his head. "That'll be too obvious. Mission, remember?"

"Of course." Sasuke nods.

"Well then," Hayate coughed, "we'll be starting the preliminaries."

"Is it just me, or is the guy coughing too much just to clear his throat?" Naruto asked, lounging over the railing, looking every part of a lousy boy.

Sakura nods, standing timidly beside him. "I think he's fatigued. What's going on if they have to use sick shinobi as a proctor?"

"Something bad." Sasuke cracks his knuckles. "We don't need to worry about that now. All we need to worry about is the preliminary match first."

"First match!" Hayate called.

The digital screen rushed through all of the names, and all of Team 7 could tell that it was just there for show. After all, it looked like pure chance if you had all the names running at the same time, but all you needed to do was punch in two names into the code and voila, you have your planned duo. Not to mention, in this world of chakra, pretty much everything was possible.

Two names appeared.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"First match; Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuga, both from Konohagakure!" Hayate clicked his fingers. "Can I please have the two contenders in the arena please?"

Now, why did Kakashi pit his own student against an older and fellow Konoha nin? Good question. That was why Team 7 was watching almost every microscopic move that Kakashi made, but they saw nothing. They were assigned a mission by the future Hokage earlier than day, to which Kakashi told them to withdraw. He said not to make it obvious that they were withdrawing for some hidden reason, and it would make sense if only one of them withdrew. He wanted the withdrawn students to keep a good eye on the other participants' abilities and not show their own ability, as the movement outside of Konoha was concerning. It was good to know that Konoha still had a hidden card up their sleeve.

"Can you still use chakra?" Sakura asked, looking Sasuke over.

The Uchiha nods. "A little. Not too much. It's hard to say."

"Don't overuse it." Naruto clapped his teammate on the shoulder. "Mitarashi-san's only taught you a little bit about the mark."

"I know, dobe." Sasuke just slipped around the railing and dropped to the ground easily, landing without so much difficulty. Everyone goes silent as Neji raises his eyebrows and slowly makes his way down using the stairs, white eyes analysing his opponent. The two of them square off, standing opposite each other before Hayate held up an arm.

Sasuke bowed. Neji was taken slightly aback, but recovered and bowed back.

"Begin!" Hayate called, throwing his hand down.

Neji shot forwards. Sasuke anticipated that. The Uchiha dodged smoothly, before whirling downwards and aiming for the other boy's ankle. The older boy stepped backwards, narrowing dodging Sasuke's attack, before activating his Byakugan and readying his hands. Sasuke distantly remembered being lectured by Naruto about the dojutsu and the taijutsu form that came hand in hand; the Gentle Fist. Activating his own dojutsu, Sasuke kept close tabs on the Hyuga's movement.

But, not expecting it, Neji moved too fast for Sasuke to react.

Feeling the chakra points being blocked in his arms and torso, Sasuke instantly deemed them out of action. What he had left was the small amount he had left in his hands and his legs.

But, he had the Sharingan. And the Sharingan was most famous for its genjutsu.

Focusing his eyes on the rapid movements of his opponent, Sasuke slowly but steadily started to fabricate a genjutsu, all while buying himself time. This genjutsu used time to prepare, and could only activate with precise chakra control. Sasuke began his own whirlwind of attacks, weaving gracefully in between the Hyuga's movements and landing critical hits on his opponent's left kidney and dislocated a right shoulder.

Neji retreated. He focused on his eyes instead of taijutsu for a moment.

"Preparing a genjutsu?" Neji sneered. "I won't let you."

Whoops. It may have slipped the Uchiha's mind that the Byakugan could see where the chakra was going, thus being able to see what the user was doing with their chakra.

Sasuke sighed. "That dojutsu is a pain." He ducked, before tossing a kunai, which he knows will miss.

"Your dojutsu is an equal pain," Neji replies, whirling around with a foot in the air. The Uchiha grunts, catching the foot and pulled the older boy over his shoulder in a flip while throwing the Hyuga's foot. Despite his opponent's speed, the Hyuga still landed on his feet, but still stumbled slightly with his loss of balance.

Sasuke mentally checked his genjutsu. It was still in the preparing stage.

Neji didn't waste any time. As soon he steadied himself, he shot forwards again, this time nailing the Uchiha's other open tenketsu - the chakra points - in the torso. Sasuke coughed, stumbling back. Snapping open his eyes, Sasuke leapt back and his mind ran through an analysis. He was nowhere near Neji's strength in taijutsu, ninjutsu hasn't been shown yet, and genjutsu was most likely would be Sasuke's advantage.

Sasuke's genjutsu was ready.

He just so happened to be facing towards the Sandaime, Hayate and Kakashi, and caught the eye of his sensei.

Kakashi's mouth moved, with such minimal movement that only Sasuke with his Sharingan could see.

Sasuke's eyes widen.

The jonin eye-smiles.

Sasuke nods subtly.

And the Uchiha goes flying into a wall.

Neji stands there, puffing, leg outstretched. Sasuke doesn't show any sign of moving, a slight twitch in his right shoulder moved, but that was it. Everyone held their breath for what seemed five whole minutes.

Hayate holds his hand up. "Winner; Neji Hyuga!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Also, check out the new ending for chapter four (The Beginning of Team 7, IV) because I've edited it. No more 'crazy Sasuke' (because I really have no idea why I did that). I took out that part and replaced it with something new, but it doesn't affect the storyline too much (I think, but it might later on).
> 
> This marks the end of 'Chunin in the Chunin Exams', and we're moving onto a small arc of mine.
> 
> Thanks for reading! See y'all next week~
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	13. Konoha's Not-ANBU, I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pervy Sage makes an appearance; Team 7 returns to the Land of Waves; Kakashi and Sasuke go rowing.

It was two days after the preliminaries.

Team 7 had cleared it up the day before. Sasuke had thrown the match so the team wouldn't have to prepare for the third phase. The day after was just a simple C-rank, they managed to patrol the whole village together. Then it was today, at six am, where they'd meet up at the Hokage's office for a new mission.

Naruto was walking down the main road with a cup of miso soup in his hands, warming himself up in preparation. Just as he turned a corner, Naruto sensed a familiar chakra signature right before slamming into a pole.

"Aw," Naruto groaned, "I thought I got rid of that habit!"

"What habit?"

Naruto froze. He looked up. He didn't slam into a pole.

"Er..." Naruto frowned. "Who are you?"

The man frowned back. "What kind of uniform is that?"

"How old are you?"

"Is that a new Konoha uniform?"

"Are you from Konoha?"

"You look like a genin, are you a genin?"

"How did I not sense you until you were right in front of me?"

"Why are you up so early?"

"How'd you get past the patrols?"

"Oh, that? I just said hi and they let me in."

Naruto blinked. "They...let you in? So you're from Konoha?"

"Of course!" The man posed, and Naruto had to refrain from cringing. "I am Jiraiya, the great Toad Sannin!"

"Sannin?" Orochimaru popped to Naruto's mind. The boy was instantly alert. Was this guy as evil as the other Sannin?

"Exactly!" Jiraiya winked. "Bow down before my strength, as I am a Sannin!"

Naruto deadpanned. "Absolutely not. And you're not the first Sannin I've met."

"Wait," Jiraiya instantly became all curious, "you've been in touch with Tsunade?"

Naruto shook his head. "The other one. The evil one. Just appeared to scare the hell out of us." _And place a curse mark on one of my teammates_ , but Naruto kept his mouth shut. It was a secret for a reason.

Jiraiya's face fell and was replaced with a dark look. "Ah. Right." The man didn't ask about who this 'us' was, but was curious.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto squinted up at the man, taking in the Sannin's appearance. "Why today? Do you have an appointment with the Hokage? Are you even a Sannin?"

"One, I'm here to congratulate a man who got promoted recently. Two, I made my way as fast as I could once I got the message, so today's the day. Three, I sort of do. I mean, he's expecting me to come around now. Four, you'll just have to take my word for it." Jiraiya counted, holding up fingers one by one.

"Cool." Naruto nods. "I'll be off." He mentally remembered Jiraiya's chakra signature and deemed it a white with a red outline kind of chakra, the white similar to Kakashi's. Naruto turned around and headed for the Hokage tower, taking notice that Jiraiya was following him. Naruto kept walking, and for about five minutes of silence, Naruto sighed and turned around.

"Are you following me?"

Jiraiya blinked, looking up from a book he was annotating. "Ah, I'm heading this way too."

Naruto would've believed the man, but someone who could so easily mask his chakra until he was directly in front of the Jinchuriki himself was someone not to be underestimated. And shinobi were taught how to lie, and some of them could lie extremely well.

"Right." Naruto nods, looking up at the tower. "Are you going to the tower?"

"Yes." Jiraiya nods, snapping the book shut. "My turn to ask a question, what uniform is that?"

Naruto glanced at his back. Right. He was wearing the inverted ANBU uniform today, as he tossed his old orange one into the laundry as soon as the Chunin Exams were over. "This is my team's uniform."

"Team?" Jiraiya frowned. "You look a little young to be in ANBU..."

"I'm not." Naruto smiled. "I'm-"

"Fox!"

The two males turn around to see Sakura jogging over. Naruto smiled, waving. "Red! Hey!"

She was wearing her uniform too, looking quite comfortable in it. "Who's this?"

"I am-"

"Jiraiya, the Sannin." Naruto shot Jiraiya a look. "Apparently."

"Hmm," Sakura nods slowly, "I believe him. He looks like the appearance described in the Konoha Heroes Scroll."

Jiraiya grinned. "I'm in the Heroes Scroll? Awesome!"

Sakura smiled dryly. "He's just like you, Naruto."

"Shuddup." Naruto pouted. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Says who?" Sakura crossed her arms as the three of them start to make their way to the Hokage's office.

Naruto cleared his throat dramatically. "Lesson four, always support your teammates!"

Sakura scowled. "Don't use that to your advantage."

Jiraiya watched the two bicker comfortably with each other and decided that the duo was really teammates. The familiarity was something that usually came with family, and teammates were a form of family for many shinobi. He still had a suspicion that they were ANBU - they did use code names when calling out to each other - but were a little too young...but Jiraiya has seen younger kids inside ANBU. The man himself was wary of Naruto and this 'Red' because, during his and Naruto's first conversation, the boy had said "How did I not sense you until you were right in front of me?", which was something that put the older man on guard. For someone to say that meant they were quite confident in their sensory abilities, and the Sannin didn't detect an ounce of arrogance while being around the boy.

"Sannin, hmm?" Sakura turned to Jiraiya. "I'm pretty sure the last time you were seen, you were in Amegakure."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Apparently." Sakura copied her teammate's tone. "Oh, we could ask sensei."

"I was planning to do that," Naruto nods, as they arrive at the bottom of the tower.

Jiraiya took note of this 'sensei'. They talked about this person with respect, the kind of respect Jiraiya had seen when teaching his own genin team, especially in kind-hearted Minato.

"We're coming in!" Naruto called, opening the office doors.

Kakashi was standing up the window, behind the Sandaime, who was sifting through his paper on his desk, and Sasuke had already arrived, chakra meditating on the floor. Kakashi eye-smiled. "Come in, Naruto, Sakura."

"Sensei!" Sakura grinned.

"By the way," Naruto jerked a thumb in Jiraiya's direction, which made the Sannin wonder when was the last time someone showed such disrespect at him, "who's this?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrows, seeing Jiraiya. "Ah..."

"Mini-Fang!" Jiraiya beamed. "Miss me?"

"Not particularly," Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly, to which Jiraiya deflated.

"Aw c'mon," Jiraiya walked over to the jonin and ruffled the younger man's hair. "Be nicer to your honorary uncle!"

Kakashi deadpanned, and it struck so familiar to Naruto's. Ah. That was no doubt they were sensei and student. It was almost impossible for Naruto to pick that up unless Kakashi was his guardian of some sort.

"Honorary uncle?" Sasuke peeked open an eye. "Your honorary uncle is the Toad Sannin?"

"Someone finally recognises me on sight!" Jiraiya gave the Uchiha thumbs up.

"Uh, no," Sasuke replied, "the idiot dobe just told me."

The blond boy grinned from beside the raven-head, and the Sannin deflated for the second time. Hiruzen chuckled, setting his papers down. "Alright, you're all here. Jiraiya, I didn't expect you to be here."

"I'm here to-"

"Congratulate sensei on becoming Hokage, right?" Naruto grinned at Jiraiya's blank look. "You said you were here to congratulate a man on getting promoted, and you expected sensei to be here."

Jiraiya nods. "You're not half bad, Uzumaki."

"How'd you know my last name?" Naruto frowned.

Jiraiya didn't answer, simply giving Kakashi and Hiruzen a look. He had guessed. Looking like a carbon-copy of Minato but having Kushina's attitude was almost a dead giveaway. He just had to guess which last name to use.

"Am I famous?" Naruto grinned.

"No." Kakashi cut him down. "I'm positive you're nowhere near fame."

"Aw." Naruto sighed. "I wish I was famous!"

"Don't be so pessimistic," Hiruzen smiled.

"Sarutobi-sama," Kakashi turned to the Hokage, remembering not to call the man the Hokage, "why did you call us?"

Hiruzen smiled. "A new mission. Especially for you."

"Especially for us?" Sasuke was interested. "Where?"

"Land of Waves," The Hokage smiled.

Sakura blinked. "Don't tell me it's Tazuna again."

"But we got rid of Gato!" Naruto groaned. "That was it, right?"

"Unsure, but it is Tazuna." Hiruzen passed the mission form that Tsunami had filed in. "They didn't put in any extra information other than making it a D-rank and requesting your specific team."

"Wait, so you aren't ANBU?" Jiraiya asked.

"No!" Naruto said, huffing. "Well, I wish!"

"We're a genin team." Kakashi grinned. "Kinda."

"Kinda?" Jiraiya repeated, realising his eyebrows.

Sakura examined the form. "Didn't sensei tell them to file in the right ranking last time? Then why did they do a D? Didn't they say last time that they wouldn't ask for any D-ranks and do it themselves?"

"Something's off." Sasuke frowned. "They promised. And Tsunami can keep those two in check to keep their promises."

"We'll go." Naruto nods. "I want to visit Inari anyways."

"When do we go?" Sakura asks.

Jiraiya watched with interest. This team was interesting, to say the least. They took in the information calmly and let each other decide as a whole for the whole team. The Sannin glanced at Kakashi, who was looking quite proudly at the team. The Sannin looked at the Sandaime. Hiruzen nods slightly. Jiraiya didn't know if he should feel happy or guilty.

His suspicion was true, then. Creating a new Sannin team. It was Naruto's confidence in his sensory ability, the extremely refined chakra signature in Sakura, and the controlled swelling and shrinking of Sasuke's chakra when he was meditating earlier. Sure, Naruto could take over from his father as a prodigy, Sakura could be a hidden genius from a no clan family, and it wouldn't be so surprising for an heir of the Uchiha family to be talented and skilled. Yet there was also those toned muscles and those hard eyes, which Jiraiya knew came from training. He was happy that there was a new star team but felt like it was his fault for being part of the Sannin and raising the bar for 'good' shinobi. He could write a list of those who had been pushed to create a 'new Sannin' team, and had died or fatally injured - both physically and mentally.

"See you in half an hour," Kakashi was saying, waving at his team which bows before disappearing.

Jiraiya turned to Hiruzen, a question already about to come out of his mouth.

"I'll be off," Kakashi smiled, nodding. "I'll catch you later, Jiraiya-san before we leave."

Jiraiya smiles, clapping the younger man's back before the ex-ANBU captain _shunshined_ away, leaving the two elder men alone.

"Why?" Jiraiya asked, frowning. "What happened to helping the later generations fulfil their potential rather than pushing them and risking breaking them?"

Hiruzen sighs, before nodding at the seat opposite him. It was usually discarded by others, to sit opposite the Hokage was like saying you were an equal. Jiraiya sat down without an objection, long already familiar with his sensei.

"We're not pushing them," Hiruzen paused, before adding, "too much. I trust Kakashi to know what to do."

Jiraiya nods his head. "I get it. Mini-Fang has been an ANBU captain since his teenage years and has experience in teaching others. But these are children we're talking about. It's not even war!"

The Sandaime doesn't respond, simple staring at Jiraiya.

The Sannin pauses. "Wait...we're not at war, right?"

"No." Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. "Not yet, at least."

"What's going on?" Jiraiya was now serious, something that wasn't seen often. "Why wasn't I notified of anything?"

"It isn't a big threat, it was only recently when I had decided that Kakashi was going to be my succeeder and the exams had started." Hiruzen's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Movement."

"Near Konoha?" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. "Why would they...there has to be some sort of alliance. We're not known as one of the powerful villages for no reason."

"I had Team 7 - the team led by Kakashi - keep an eye on contestants." The Hokage sighs. "There's the Suna Jinchuriki here, the son of the Kazekage. Not to mention, after all, Sunagakure has sent the most genin."

"Slipping in an army while looking innocent, eh?" Jiraiya scowled. "What the-"

"Relax," Hiruzen smiles, "we've got everything under control. What are you here for?"

"Congratulating Kakashi." Jiraiya nods. "And checking up. There are rumours, and I do have a network."

The Sandaime sighs. "Alright. Try to have a good time in Konoha, yeah? I need to get to the mission's hall, there must be some people already there waiting."

"Right." Jiraiya stood up. "See you later."

Hiruzen smiles after his student, who turns around with a saunter and leaves the office. Jiraiya was walking towards Ichiraku's, for some familiar ramen, when Kakashi appeared. The two men stood opposite each other.

"Catch up?" Jiraiya smiled.

Kakashi smiled back.

**|/\|\/|**

"Yo," Naruto smiled as the door opened, "long time no see."

Tsunami smiled back, welcoming the boy with open arms. "Naruto! Long time no see."

"Naruto-nii?" Inari rushed down from upstairs. "You really came?"

"Hey, Inari!" Naruto grinned, and he broke away from Tsunami's hug and got a handful of Inari instead.

The rest of Team 7 filed into the house, the two children bowing politely and Kakashi nods at Tsunami. Tsunami smiles brightly back at the shinobi, before pointing toward the table. "I just finished making lunch. Come in, let's eat together."

"That's great!" Naruto grinned. "We didn't have breakfast today!"

"That was your own fault," Sakura grumbled, "and made the rest of us have no breakfast."

"How was I supposed to know that sensei wouldn't have any breakfast? He usually treats us to something small during missions!" Naruto pouted.

Kakashi blinked. "It's just small snacks. Literally. Of course, breakfast would be your responsibility."

"Take a seat," Tsunami smiled, "I'll be right back with the bowls and chopsticks."

Naruto sat in between Inari and Sakura, with Kakashi sitting opposite him. Sasuke was sitting next to Kakashi, opposite Sakura. Tazuna stumbled into the room, raising an eyebrow at the ninja in the room, before sighing and taking a seat at the head of the table. Naruto grinned and gave the man thumbs up, to which Tazuna nods stiffly back. Tsunami hums brightly as she brings in seven bowls filled with steaming rice and pairs of chopsticks. Settling down opposite her son and next to Kakashi, the woman passed out the items she held before gesturing to the food.

"Please, eat." She smiled.

"Itadakimasu," Sasuke called, picking up his chopsticks. "Three, two, one, go."

"Itadakimasu!" His other two teammates called while he counted down, and as soon as he said go, all three of them wolfed down their food like it was their last meal. Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari watched with amusement.

"They're still doing the contest?" Tsunami smiled. "To see who eats faster?"

"They haven't had the chance to recently," Kakashi picked up his own chopsticks slowly, "they're always too tired."

Inari watched with an open mouth as the full bowl of rice in Sakura's bowl disappeared almost instantly, and when Naruto stuffed a spoonful of fish meat into his mouth and swallowed without much chewing.

"Don't choke," Kakashi reminded cheerfully. "Especially you, Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "Mmm!"

Sakura placed her chopsticks down gracefully. "Done."

"That's not ideal for your health," Kakashi said, "and that was way too fast."

"Just this once," Sakura grins. "And it's not like you don't do it, sensei."

"Guilty," Kakashi says, not sounding guilty.

"Humanely impossible," Sasuke muttered, glancing back down at his bowl, which still had about a little under half of the rice left.

Sakura grinned. "That's two tips, boys."

"Got it," Naruto mumbled, his mouth full of food.

"So," Kakashi got down to business as he picked up a piece of fish, "what's this D-rank?"

Tsunami looked at Tazuna. The older man sighed. "It's not a D-rank."

"Thought as much," Kakashi nods.

"It might as well been a B-rank," Tazuna scowled, "or maybe A-rank. I don't know much."

Sakura nods. "What's the problem?"

"Gato's island." Tazuna frowned. "Lights are still on, and there are people walking inside. And I swear I saw Gato riding a boat there."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. "Interesting."

"We didn't file it in as a higher rank," a clouded look came across Tsunami's face, "because I swear that I gave him over to Chikylu-sama. And our daimyo looks through most of our mission requests since we're such a small country, so we didn't dare make it look like there was a big problem."

"Katsumi Chikylu, hmm?" Kakashi nods. "Right. Naruto, do you have anything on that woman?"

"Katsumi Chikylu?" Naruto frowned, thinking back to the time where his clone read about the current and past daimyos. "Not much. Just that she was born in Amegakure, er, had a younger brother who died a couple of years back, and had spontaneously decided to become the daimyo of this country."

Kakashi nods. "Good. Thanks."

Naruto grinned, before digging back into his dinner. Sakura turns to Tazuna. "So that's what's bothering you? That you've handed in a criminal like Gato to the daimyo but his lair is still running as usual?"

"Correct." Tazuna nods.

"We'll check out the lair tonight." Kakashi decided. "Just for recon. No interference."

Naruto blinked, putting down his chopsticks and pushing aside his empty bowl to show that he had finished. "Me? Going on recon?"

"No," Kakashi eye-smiled, "I was going to go alone."

"I'd like to go," Sasuke says. "I haven't found many opportunities to practice stealth."

"I'll stay with Naruto," Sakura offers. "Brush up on some of his genjutsu. It'll come in handy if we end up infiltrating anywhere else."

Kakashi smiled. "Agreed."

The team exchange a glance before returning to dinner, as usual, surprising the civilian family. They had expected a new 'level' of discipline, yes, almost military-like, but they were surprised when Kakashi stayed quiet when the rest of the team organised everything themselves. Tsunami smiled knowingly as her son poked question after question at Naruto, who tried his best to answer. These shinobi really were grown-up compared to the last time they were here. They spent most of their time training, but this time, they jumped straight into the mission, easily identifying strengths and weaknesses.

"Before we go," Kakashi smiled at his genin, "I wanted to touch up on our sensory abilities. That'll be useful, along with stealth."

"When will you leave?" Tsunami asked.

"Tonight." Kakashi answers. "Probably when the sun's setting."

Sasuke put down his chopsticks. "Sensory, huh?"

"You're debatably the worst sensor in our team," Naruto teased.

Sasuke looked at his teammate blankly. "Fight me in taijutsu, nothing else. We'll see who wins."

"Denied." Naruto shakes his head frantically. "I take it back! Ah, don't kill me Blue!"

"Boys," Sakura warns.

Both of them bow their heads.

Kakashi smiled. It seemed that Sakura could reign them in. His mind wandered to that talk he had with Naruto, about his female teammate. About not thinking of Sakura as just defence. The girl had an affinity for genjutsu, and could - would - end up a powerful kunoichi. Kakashi sighed quietly, reprimanding himself. He was such a hypocrite. Didn't he always protect Rin like she couldn't do anything herself?

"Do you want anything else?" Tsunami smiled. "We've got drinks in the back."

"Nah, I'm all good, Tsunami-san!" Naruto grinned. "Your food is great, dattebayo!"

"Thanks," Tsunami smiled warmly.

"Let's do some light jogging before focusing on sensory abilities," Kakashi offered. "We did just eat."

"Hai!"

**|/\|\/|**

"You have everything, right?" Sakura fretted. "Make sure you keep that mask on, hood too! Don't be too reckless, always listen to sensei, and don't do anything stupid!"

"I won't." Sasuke sighed. "I'll be fine."

Naruto grinned at his teammate, giving the raven-haired boy a thumbs up. "Listen to Sakura-chan too!"

"Alright," Sasuke nods. "Why do I feel like I'm walking to my death?"

Kakashi shrugged, stretched his arms. "Teammates tend to do that."

"It's just a recon mission. What's so 'death' about that?" Sasuke sighed, before giving his teammates a rare smile. "I'll be fine."

The two of them momentarily stop worrying, taken slightly aback by the smile. Naruto was the first to recover. "Alright, if you say so."

"You should smile more often," Sakura smiles, tugging the Uchiha's hood over his head. "There."

Sasuke offered another smile. "Thanks."

"Aw!" Naruto grinned. "Sensei, do you have a camera?"

"What for?" Kakashi glanced at the blond boy.

"Collecting photos for the wedding!" Naruto beamed.

"I thought you liked Sakura," Kakashi raised his eyebrows, already knowing the answer.

"Eh," Naruto shrugged, "I was an idiot back then. How could I not see this?" He gestured at Sakura and Sasuke.

Kakashi chuckled. "You're still young. Instead of fretting over this concept of love," Kakashi ruffled the boy's hair and placed his other hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Focus on your dream, future Hokage-sama."

"Dattebayo!" Naruto smiled.

"Let's go." Kakashi nods at Sasuke. They were currently at the beach, a rowboat ready for them already. The plan was the row about halfway, before walking on water the rest of the way. Sasuke placed his porcelain mask over his face, shoot his teammates one more look, before following after Kakashi, who had easily stepped into the boat and had an oar in hand.

"Good luck," Sakura called waving.

It didn't take too long for Sasuke and Kakashi to reach the middle of the sea, and when they did, Sasuke was the first to get off the boat and stand on the water. He took a couple of steps back, shifting backwards so there was a good amount of space in between him and the boat.

Kakashi placed a chakra seal on it, so he knew where it was when they were going to go back to it.

Sasuke frowned. "Are you not going to tie it here?"

"Not a good idea," Kakashi steps out easily, "just in case they have a water patrol. You never know. Gato was paranoid enough to hire someone like Zabuza."

"But it's just a boat," Sasuke then nods. "Right. If it's just there and doesn't move, then it's suspicious. No one ties a boat in the middle of the ocean."

"Not to mention, if we tie to the bottom of the seabed, pretty much the only people who can accomplish that are shinobi. It'll be a red flag. We need to make it look as normal as possible." Kakashi stretched, before tugging at his fingerless gloves. "Remember, this is just for information. Don't engage with anyone."

"Hai," Sasuke nods.

Sasuke and Kakashi instantly _shunshin_ to a familiar tree, crouching easily on a branch. It was the same tree that they had been on the last time they had waited for their infiltration mission. The sun had already set, already having disappeared over the horizon and the moon was now shining. It was a little over the first quarter, more than half of it shining. It cast silver light across the ground, and Kakashi glanced up, reading the sky for a moment.

As soon as a cloud passed in front of the bright moon, Kakashi gave Sasuke a curt nod and the two of them move quickly and used their skills to blend in with the building's shadows. Just as Sasuke covered his white uniform with his black cloak, a ground patrol pair of men stalked past.

"I fucking can't believe the boss," one person complained. "Hiring those motherfuckers."

The other one was calmer. "Well, those ninja broke in the other week, so it's a good idea to get more security on the prize."

"Prize, as if." The blond sighed, crossing his arms. "Who does boss even sell that good shit to? He's never really been into drugs, y'know?"

"Rumour is that he got caught once and needs to repay the addicted guy who caught him," the calmer raven-head replies.

"Whatever." The blond scowls, before stomped away. "Goddamn it, if he has so much Deck whiskey why can't we fuckers have some?"

The raven-head sighs, walking after his partner, both of them missing the hidden shinobi. Kakashi frowned. So all of the illegal items he had found last time were not actually for Gato himself, but for someone else. Kakashi had a suspect, but it was better not to jump to conclusions. And not to mention, Gato had hired some more people. There was a chance that it's more mercenary nukenin, but Kakashi had a feeling it was someone else.

As soon as the two patrollers disappeared from sight, Kakashi nods and bolted up the side of the building, marvelling Sasuke at his speed and silence of movement. He dove through a window, rolling through the window while being mindful of not setting off any alarms and easily _henging_ himself just before he arrived, wearing the exact uniform the two men on patrol were wearing, and making his hair brown and eyes blue.

Sasuke could've sworn that Kakashi winked at his before disappearing, and Sasuke snorts silently, before waiting slowly for any movement in the window, and as soon as a hand appeared in the window, Sasuke waited until it it formed the number four and he bolted up the side of the building and followed his sensei's exact movements, ending up next to Kakashi in a _henge_.

"Nice," Kakashi muttered.

Sasuke looked back at him. He had green eyes - startling like Sakura's - and wispy dark grey hair, and looked much older. "Just came to mind."

"Just came to mind, hmm?" Kakashi nods subtly. "Four people coming in from the right."

Sasuke hums, to show that he understood. He was grateful to have someone like Kakashi, with a good sensory range. The only reason why they could just pop through a window without drawing attention is when no one was around to see them, and that could be figured out through chakra detection.

Three men and a woman stomp into the room, arms crossed and all wearing the uniform. It was a black jacket with a white t-shirt, accompanied with beige cargo pants. The tallest man looks over the _henged_ shinobi without so much of a glance, but the shorter redhead beside him narrowed his eyes.

"Oi, who're you?" The redhead called.

The brunette woman sighed. "We don't have time right now, Gato-san's waiting for us and our reports. Interrogate them later."

"I've never seen them before," the redhead insisted, "and I like to know everyone we work with!"

The tallest man scoffs. "Let's go. Sorry about him."

Kakashi nods curtly but tires to show respect, and Sasuke half-bows. The woman narrows her eyes but then turns away with a folder in her hand. Kakashi had noticed when they first walked in; they all had folders and clipboards with papers inside. His eyesight wasn't as good as his sense of smell, so all he could say is that he could smell the faint smell of alcohol coming from the man who didn't say anything yet. And the smell of tobacco coming from the woman.

"Let's get going," the woman nods back before the four of them leave.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Kakashi says quietly, "keep your guard up."

"Hai." Sasuke nods.

Then Kakashi frowned. He was sensing something...that he expected to sense, but it was a little different. Refined chakra was making its way up and down the stairs, and placed Kakashi on high alert.

And then a person walked in.

Kakashi shot a quick glance.

Refined chakra. Built muscles. Katana. Tanto. Confident walk. Mostly silent movement. Light footsteps. Not swinging arms as he walked.

Kakashi felt panic rise slowly in his chest.

This wasn't good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter.
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	14. Konoha's Not-ANBU, II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto runs a marathon as fast as possible; Sasuke and Sakura witness actual speed; and Team Ro is mobilised!

Sakura yawned. She had been up the second half of the night on watch, just in case some people who disliked Tazuna's family were to come and pose a threat.

She didn't exactly have a strong idea of what exactly they were up against, but she did know that there were threats out there that needed to be monitored, especially during the night, hence why they now had night shifts.

Naruto stumbled out of the house. "Red, you can go to sleep now."

Sakura slid down the roof, landing lightly on her feet next to her teammate. "Thanks, Naruto. Call me up in two hours, yeah?"

"Got it." Naruto grinned. "Time for Naruto Uzumaki, the sensory master, to take over the shift!"

"Sensory master," Sakura snorts, "have you had breakfast yet?"

Naruto nods. "I made some. There's some tamagoyaki inside in the kitchen."

"Thanks," Sakura smiles, before ducking inside the house.

"Eat it before it goes cold!" Naruto called after her, and Sakura smiled as she saw a plate of egg on the kitchen bench, still steaming slightly. Taking a pair of clean chopsticks, Sakura picked up the plate, eyeing Naruto's food fondly.

She grinned. "Itadakimasu." Breaking the rolled omelette delicately with her chopsticks, the pink-haired girl ate the food cheerfully. It wasn't unusual for the team to make meals for each other, it was part of their training schedule. Naruto was best with savoury dishes, Sakura with sweet, and surprisingly, Sasuke was good with raw and fresh foods. Especially when he'd use fruits, it was always a surprise for the team.

"Sakura-chan," Tsunami rubbed her eyes tiredly as she walked in, "good morning."

"Good morning Tsunami-san," Sakura chirped.

"You sound awake," Tsunami smiled, "how long have you been up?"

"I took the second watch shift today, so from two in the morning to now." Sakura stifled a yawn. It wasn't that long in shinobi standards, but usually, they had Kakashi and Sasuke to share the shifts, so it was usually three people sharing two-three hour shifts. But now it was just her and Naruto, so they split it into four-hour shifts. Naruto took ten pm to two am, and Sakura took two am to six am.

"Ah," Tsunami watched the girl with concern, "should you go rest? I'm very sorry about making you all work so hard."

"This is our job." Sakura shrugged, before turning to the sink. She turned on the water and started to wash her plate and chopsticks. "It's not so bad. Not to mention, you hired us."

Tsunami had always wondered why shinobi chose to become...shinobi. Sure there are clans where it's normal and you're almost expected to become one, but someone like Sakura, who came from a non-shinobi family, it was always a mystery. "Why did you become a kunoichi? Was it your family? You _are_ terribly young."

Sakura paused, before placing her plate onto the rack and wiped down the pair of chopsticks. "I...didn't have a rather 'good' motivation at the start. It was a sorry excuse just to gain attention, and when sensei showed me what shinobi really were, I considered quitting. But, I liked it with the boys. We were teammates. I guess I stayed for the responsibility of being shinobi which I underestimated at the start and for my family, my team."

"That's nice," Tsunami smiled.

"Excuse me," Sakura bowed slightly, "I should get some rest now."

Tsunami nods. "I'll see you later."

Sakura walks out of the room with a nod before just being about to tuck herself under her cloak and close her eyes when the door to her team's room was flung open, with Inari standing in the doorway.

"Sakura-san!" Inari called.

Sakura debated on telling him to stop calling her 'Sakura-san'. But then thought back to all those times she's said to, but he didn't listen. Oh well. "What's going on?"

"Kakashi-san and Sasuke-san are back!"

Sakura mentally giggled at the honorifics, making fun of her stoic teammate and skilled sensei. "Sensei and Sasuke? Thanks, Inari-kun."

Rushing out of the house whilst being mindful not to use any chakra just in case as a precaution, Sakura arrived at front of the house quickly with Inari behind her. Sasuke looked relaxed, which meant it went well. But Kakashi was tense, alert. Did he find something out that Sasuke didn't know about?

"Welcome back," Sakura smiled, but both of them knew that she was tired.

"Thanks," Sasuke took his mask and hood off, yawning.

Kakashi eye-smiled at them. "You're both tired. Go get some rest. Naruto, do you have any energy?"

"Dattebayo!" Naruto grinned. "What'dya need, sensei?"

Kakashi sighed, before crouching down a little lower to get onto Naruto's eye-level. Was it because of their intense training? But all of them had shot up in height, almost reaching Kakashi's shoulder. "I need you to run to Konoha. No chakra. Just run to the border of the Land of Fire, and then you can use clones, shunshin, Kawarimi, or anything. Don't use chakra until you leave the country, yeah?"

Naruto blinks. "Okay?"

"Actually," Kakashi smiled, "go into the Land of Fire for about ten km or so before using chakra. Just in case they have a pretty good sensor."

"They? Sensor?" Sakura frowned. "Sensei, are there other shinobi?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow," Kakashi tapped both her and Sasuke's head affectionately, "go get some rest, the two of you."

Sakura and Sasuke exchange a glance, before disappearing upstairs, careful not to use chakra because of Kakashi's warning to Naruto. Kakashi turned to Naruto, seeing the boy starting to stretch and get ready to move.

"I would go," Kakashi frowned, "but I need to keep on eye on the movement around the building. Naruto, go straight to the Sandaime. Just go straight to the Hokage, and tell him that there are doubled and samurai in there."

"Doubled and samurai?" Naruto repeated.

"Lesson five," _never question you or your methods_ , "just tell the Sandaime, yeah? Also, tell him to call Team Ro."

"Your team?" Naruto nods. There were different 'types' of Kakashi, there was the relaxed one where you could question things, then there was the tight-on-schedule one where if you really desperately needed to ask a question, then you could, but now it was the tense and alert one, where you did as he said and trusted him completely with no questions asked.

Kakashi nods. Naruto grinned. "Got it. Is this ASAP?"

"Yes," Kakashi straightens, "go. Be quick."

"Hai," Naruto tugged on his cloak before placing his fox mask on and bolting away, mindful to use no chakra. Kakashi watched the boy until he disappeared, and cursed. If he could use a clone or something, then he could teach his students on how to deal with samurai. Now he would only teach Sasuke and Sakura, which would give them an advantage, but Naruto was known for learning fast and adapting quickly. This was the best way.

Using his physical strength to pull himself onto the roof, Kakashi took over the watch from Naruto and used his extreme sense of smell to determine when threats were near. The way Naruto sensed was covering an area with his extensive reserves of chakra and then could sense others. The more chakra he lay over an area, the deeper it would get. The thinner, the less details. Sakura sensed similarly, but with her smaller reserves, she focused on a widespread but with less depth, which was good when they were travelling lightly on foot. Sasuke however, was incompatible with sensory. The most that he could manage is a light five-hundred centimetre range, which is why he lets all of the sensory to the rest of his teammates. But now, the best people for the sensory job was Kakashi - who has experience with dulling down his chakra, and funnily enough, Sasuke. As the other two used chakra to sense, that would alert those who kept an eye out for shinobi interference. And with Sasuke's Sharingan, he could easily see movement from quite a while away.

Kakashi stifled a yawn. He wasn't necessarily tired, but he tended to yawn after he hit his twenty-four-hour mark.

**|/\|\/|**

Mouse was on her shift of the Konoha patrol, just past midnight.

It wasn't an exactly interesting job, you literally just stood there to sense chakra movement outside of the village, but it was needed, as there was some suspicious things happening out there.

But what she wasn't expecting, was another ANBU wearing a white version of their uniform to burst out of the tree line, swaying slightly on his feet.

"ANBU-san," it was a custom to call all ANBU which you didn't know the identity of respectfully, "are you okay?"

The terribly short ninja peered up. "You're that woman from the Hokage's office...yo."

Mouse blinked. "Excuse me?"

The man took off his mask and hood, and the green-haired woman was suddenly grateful for her mask, as it hid her surprise. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Remember me? Team 7?"

"You're that genin under Hound-sama," Mouse confirmed. "What are you doing here?"

"Can you, uh," Naruto grinned tiredly and out of breath, "take me to the Hokage? I'm going to collapse at any time."

Mouse looks him over, checked his chakra signature, before spiking her own chakra and picking up the surprisingly light boy into her arms. Ah, she had almost forgotten. He was still a twelve-year-old. Another ANBU appeared, raising an eyebrow at the boy in her arms, but nods respectfully - she _was_ a bodyguard of the Hokage - and takes over her post.

"You're lucky you ran into me," Mouse muttered.

"I went for you," Naruto cursed as his legs shot up cramps. He had been running since the morning. He took several rests, but as it was an emergency that needed to be taken to the Hokage ASAP, he didn't stay in one place for too long. He had also taken Kakashi's warning to heart, not using chakra at all on the way back to Konoha.

Mouse raised her eyebrows as she bounded over rooftops towards the Hokage tower. "You went for me?"

"Only signature I knew," Naruto said, before elaborating, "the only one on the outer patrol, so I went towards it. Didn't realise it would be you. Oh, and you were just on the side I was coming from."

"Talk about convenience," Mouse chuckled.

"Or else I would've just gone inside and hold up my headband, y'know?" Naruto grinned weakly. "Doubt they'll let me in though, the uniform's too weird."

"Agreed," Mouse arrives at the office, making the Sandaime raise his eyebrows at the tuff of blond hair in her arms. "Sandaime Hokage-sama."

"Jiji-san!" Naruto said cheerfully, and Mouse sets him down, but he instantly makes himself comfortable on the ground. "Sorry, just a little tired."

"It's not a problem," the older man smiled warmly, "what do I owe this surprising visit?"

Naruto suddenly became serious. "Sensei says to tell you that it's doubled and samurai. And to call for Team Ro."

Hiruzen pauses. "Doubled and samurai? Are you sure?"

"Sure!" Naruto gave the Hokage a thumbs up, back to his usual self.

"Mouse-san," the Sandaime turns to the ANBU operative, "call for the members of Team Ro please."

"Hai," the green-haired woman bows before _shunshining_ out of the place.

"Tell me more," Hiruzen stood up and took a seat on the ground beside Naruto. "Naruto. It seems like it was a long time ago when you and I had a talk by ourselves."

Naruto frowned. Has it been that long? He could distantly remember when he'd be so excited when the old man came over almost every day to check up on the Uzumaki, but since he had been placed in Team 7, Hiruzen hasn't really been in touch with the boy, both of their jobs getting the way.

Naruto grinned. "Well, sensei's a good teacher, dattebayo! Also, I really like my team, jiji! Sasuke-teme might be rude at times, but he's really good at watching my back when I need it! Oh, and Sakura-chan is so good at making dango! She's probably the best cook, after sensei, of course. Sensei makes the best food ever, especially fish! It's been really cool to be on their team!"

The man smiled. This boy had matured. The last time Naruto had spoken so much to Hiruzen, about seventy-five per cent of it was ranting about ramen and the rest were all about becoming the Hokage. Now he had people around him which he cared about, which was something that he had severely lacked.

"That's good to hear," Hiruzen chuckles, "do you miss ramen?"

"Of course, dattebayo!" Naruto pouted. "Sensei's banned me for the month because I failed in _henging_ as Shino the other day."

"Shino Aburame?" The Sandaime let out a laugh. "Interesting."

"It was hard," Naruto sighed.

Just then, six people _shunshined_ into the office, and the Sandaime stood up, dusting his robes. "Thank you, Mouse. Dismissed."

The woman bowed and _shunshined_ away, just as the other five took in who the other people were in the room. Naruto blinked and committed their chakra signatures to his memory, all while marvelling at the diverse signatures.

There was a familiar white-blue flame. Himari Hyuga. It was almost comforting that it was there, like it was a fire to warm someone's heart.

Then there was another one that Naruto had felt around the village, more of a silvery-green colour. Genma Shiranui. Naruto was sure that the man was now a tokubetsu jonin, and saw occasionally, once in a while, Kakashi with him.

Red and green. It was what looked a quite muscular man with a good amount of scroll pouches all over his uniform. Naruto didn't know his name, but the air around him was just intimidating.

There then was one with a mesh of brown and green. The man looked quite relaxed, and his Konoha hitai-ate was somewhat like Jiraiya's, which stretched like a protective item for the border around his face.

Then there was the most familiar. It was purple, like her hair, but also sharp and outlined with a startling blue. Yugao. Otherwise known as Naruto's sensory teacher.

"Thank you all for coming," Hiruzen smiled at the group of adults.

"What's going on, Hokage-sama?" Yugao asked.

Hiruzen nods at Naruto, and all the attention goes to the blond boy. The Uzumaki smiled awkwardly. "Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a student of Kakashi Hatake. Er, sensei told me to come back and call for Team Ro for back up, I think."

"Naruto-kun," Yugao leaned down to touch his forehead, "you're exhausted."

"Running from the Land of Waves to Konoha with no chakra tends to do that," Naruto smiled tiredly. "Long time no see, Uzuki-san!"

"Running?" Genma raises his eyebrows. "With no chakra?"

Naruto smiled. "Sensei said not to use too much chakra."

"Running subordinates to the core, as always. Typical of taichou." Genma chuckles. Himari shoots him a look and crouches down beside Yugao and checks on his legs.

Himari smiles warmly. "Alright, Naruto-kun. Your legs have been under pressure for quite some time, so I'll give your legs some relief, and then Ko'll carry you."

The red-green chakra man blinks. "Me? Why me?"

"Because I said so," Himari grumbled, medical ninjutsu activating on her hands.

"Hey, not cool." Ko looks at the brown-green man. "Can you carry him?"

The man rolled his eyes. "I'm your second in command, which means you listen to me when Hatake-senpai isn't here. So no. You can carry him."

"Yamato-senpai!" Ko frowned.

Yamato smiled sweetly. "C'mon."

"Er," Naruto says, "I can walk-"

"Absolutely not," Himari says sternly. "Orders from the doctor."

"Hai." Naruto bowed his head almost instantly.

Ko whistled. "It's like he's traumatised by a doctor."

Naruto shuddered. "Close enough." His mind wandered to a familiar pink-head, and when she was angry, she was scary.

"Where are we going?" Yugao asked the boy.

"Land of Waves," Naruto replied.

"Let's go." Yamato nods. "This is an unofficial mission, right?"

Hiruzen nods. "Unofficial."

"Could just be an excuse for us to reunite and say hi to each other," Ko suggests.

"He wouldn't do that," Yugao replies. "Hatake-senpai wouldn't just mobilise one of the top ANBU teams just for a catch-up."

Genma hums. "Agreed."

Ko hefted the Uzumaki onto his back. "Can you hold on?"

"Course, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned.

"Good." Ko narrows his eyes. "Can we use shunshin?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Only until we hit the border of the Land of Fire. Or...about ten kilometres before we hit the border. Yeah."

"We'll shunshin to the border," Yamato takes charge, "and then run on foot from there. Agreed?"

"Hai," the rest of the team chorused.

"Good luck." The Sandaime held up a hand, just as the group _shunshined_ off, Naruto's head bobbing up and down slightly on Ko's back.

**|/\|\/|**

"Good morning," Sakura smiled warmly at her teammates, bar the missing Naruto.

Sasuke nods. "Morning."

"What time is it now?" Sakura asked, yawning. "I feel like I've slept for ages."

"You've slept for about twelve hours," Kakashi offered, passing her a cup of tea.

"That's way too long!" Sakura's eyes widen. "Sensei, why didn't you wake me up?"

"You needed sleep." Kakashi eye-smiled. "And Sasuke was sleeping soundly until a couple of minutes ago too."

"Ah," Sakura settled down beside Sasuke, "right."

Kakashi slid two blades on the table, one long and one considerably shorter. "Can you two identify these?"

"Katana." Sakura pointed at the longer one.

Sasuke touches the other one. "Tanto."

"Correct." Kakashi nods. "There's also the ninjato, but I don't use it as much as I use these two. The ninjato is in between these two blades; it's slightly longer than a tanto but shorter than a katana. Now, why am I telling you this? In Gato's new security system, there's no shinobi inside. Why?"

Sakura answered. "Because shinobi didn't work last time, even though he had hired some of the best."

"Exactly." Kakashi picked up a tanto. "He's hired samurai this time. Samurai are like us shinobi. A military force, but only a couple of countries still use them. They use chakra, but through things like blades. They're renowned for their incredible speed and skill with a blade."

"How good are they?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. As an aspiring kenjutsu specialist, anything to do with swords and blades interested him.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I'll show you. Come, let's go outside."

The three of them stand and head to the place where they practice water-walking, thinking back to when they had just started to learn about the ways of shinobi. Kakashi unsheathed his blade, before swinging it with ease to warm up his wrist.

"Ready?" Kakashi doesn't wait for them to answer.

He moves with inhumane speed, gently shoving Sasuke towards Sakura and placed his blade right at their side-by-side necks. Both of them blink, having not taken in what happened. Sakura gulped. Sasuke glanced down at the shining blade under his chin with concealed awe and then challenged himself to find something Kakashi _can't_ do.

"There." Kakashi sheathed it. "They're sometimes faster, but those are rather experienced and talented samurai."

Sasuke sighed, relaxing. "They are _fast_."

"They must focus on speed rather than strength," Sakura mused, "as well as using chakra as a tool rather than their main use of a weapon. But we focus on a little of everything, which puts at a huge speed disadvantage."

"Correct." Kakashi eye-smiled. Team 7 weren't ready, especially not up against a totally different kind of military. They've been training to take down fellow shinobi, not samurai, who almost have a completely different style of fighting. You couldn't just learn that quickly and say you've mastered it.

"I can keep up with my Sharingan," Sasuke notes.

"Correct as well," Kakashi nods, " _but_ , you won't be able to move and react that fast to save yourself."

Sasuke scowled. "True."

"Which is why I'm going to get you two trained." Kakashi frowned. "Sasuke can work on reacting to the speed as he can see the movements with his eyes. Sakura will work on keeping up with the speed, which shouldn't take too long, as you have had experience with Haku."

"Hai," the two of them nod.

"So," Kakashi eye-smiled, "let's just have a spar, raven brat."

Sasuke was about to ask a question, but decided against it. "Hai!"

Kakashi nods. "Whenever you're ready."

Sasuke jumped forwards first, pulling out his own katana from the sheath on his back. Sakura was intrigued; as she had studied genjutsu and medical ninjutsu, Sasuke had studied his dojutsu and kenjutsu. Sure, she had seen him use his sword once in a while, but he had never engaged Kakashi in a sword fight, and it seemed interesting.

Kakashi was fast in countering his student, pulling out his tanto and blocking the boy's strike. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, Sharingan activated, keeping a close look on Kakashi's movement. He had been caught off guard once from the samurai speed. He won't be again. Kakashi moved quickly, and even though Sasuke could see and predict the movement, his own body wouldn't twist and move like he wanted to, and Kakashi easily hit Sasuke using the flat side of his blade.

Sasuke hissed, stumbling backwards. He readied his katana again, Sharingan taking in the speed and trying to recreate it through his own body. Again, Sasuke failed to block another attack, Kakashi's tanto tapping lightly on the boy's waist.

"That's enough," Kakashi stopped the spar. "I've got enough information."

Sakura blinked. "Sensei, that didn't even go for a minute."

"I've got the information," Kakashi repeated, "and that this spar won't do anything good if we continue it. Sakura, can you keep up or no?"

"If it's predictable, then yes." Sakura nods. "The first strike from you was purposely in a predictable direction, wasn't it? But the second one wasn't, and I completely lost track of where you would attack."

Kakashi nods. "Right. Sasuke, we're going to do some speed training. Sakura, same. Come here."

**|/\|\/|**

It was at four-thirty am when Kakashi was taking the night watch when Team Ro arrived.

Naruto was sleeping on the back of Ko, snoring lightly. Yamato had taken the front, Yugao in the back, and the rest of them in a loose formation with Ko and Naruto in the middle with the rest of them around the centre.

"Taichou," Genma waved lazily.

Kakashi was on the roof and nodded at his teammate. He had sensed the team a while away and started to expect them for the last ten or so minutes. "Genma, hey."

"Where do I put him?" Ko asked quietly, tugging Naruto gently into his arms. "There's a room where he stays, right?"

Kakashi found it quite funny how Team Ro was keeping a low volume because of a child in their midst, but doesn't comment on that and drops down to collect his student from Ko. "Thanks, Hyena." Holding the blond boy gently, Kakashi turns around to enter the house. "This way, you insufferable subordinates."

Yugao snorts. "And he's back. Our lovely senpai."

"What do you mean?" Yamato asked. "He's always like this. Right, senpai?"

Kakashi gave Yamato a wilting look. "Really, Tenzo?"

"I told you not to-"

Kakashi waved a dismissive hand, cutting his second in command off, all while keeping Naruto asleep in his other arm. "Come inside, y'all. Don't make too much noise, all the kids are sleeping. Not to mention the people who own the house."

"Can you tell us the mission details?" Himari asks, walking into the living room. "Cosy," she added as an afterthought, taking in the simple layout.

"Gimme a sec," Kakashi goes up the stairs quickly but quietly, placing Naruto into his room and coming back down. "Alright. Sit down."

His old ANBU team didn't question him and sat down at the table he had settled down at; the dining table used for most meals. It was almost like muscle memory to sit in their positions; Yamato and Genma next to Kakashi, Yugao opposite him, Himari and Ko next to her. But Ko chose to stand, not sitting, rolling his shoulders forwards as it was stiff since Naruto has been on his back the whole time.

"We've gone on a prior mission before here in the Land of Waves," Kakashi frowned, pulling out a scroll and unsealing the items inside. "We ended up infiltrating a lair that was thought to be the crime lord Gato's lair."

Two files with paper inside appeared from his scroll, and he slid it into the centre of the table. Himari was the first to reach out and read the file that was dated earlier. She flicked through the paper, reading Kakashi's handwritten report. Her eyes widen.

"S-S?" Himari reads out. "You ran into S-S?"

S-S. The ANBU term for Snake Sannin, or otherwise known as Orochimaru, the Sandaime's traitor student.

"Yes." Kakashi nods. "We didn't engage, but it was still dangerous. S-S didn't initiate any combat, so he left and I didn't pursue, as written in the report. But, now we've been recalled to investigate the same place. Tsunami has sworn that she had Gato arrested and handed to the daimyo, but the lair is still running, along with Gato still as the head."

"Interesting," Genma commented, twisting a senbon in his mouth.

"This goes into the politics and manipulation division now," Ko says, cracking his neck to a side. "You can ditch this mission, taichou. It's got nothing to do with Konoha, or even the Land of Fire, so there's no point on getting involved with the politics and stuff."

Kakashi nods. "I've thought of that. But again, there's no point in ditching the mission. Our team members are all healthy as can be, we haven't exactly encountered enemy shinobi, and it's good for them to get a taste of politics and manipulation. Naruto would probably throw a tantrum anyways if he's pulled out of a mission he literally did nothing on."

"Is that it, future Hokage-sama?" Himari raised her eyebrows.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well..."

"Future Hokage?" Genma blinked. "Whoa, what did I miss?"

"He was appointed the Fifth," Himari said dismissively, "oh and Ko, Yugao? You both owe ten bucks. Taichou, I _know_ you're thinking of something else."

"You know me too well," Kakashi chuckled, "if we manage to pull this off, the Land of Waves will be in our debt. With this, if a war _does_ break out, we'll know that we have support from this country. We all know that Iwa and Suna don't like us much, and if they team up against us, we'll most likely have our supply chain destroyed. With Waves, we can overcome that."

"War," Ko mused. "Interesting."

"That's good enough for me," Genma yawned discreetly, "so this is going to be one of our missions now?"

Kakashi nods. "Yup."

"Why are we here?" Yugao narrows her eyes, flicking through the current mission file. "There's no obvious reason why ANBU is called. There must be some sort of thing that your lovely accelerated team can't handle."

"Samurai." Kakashi leaned forwards, elbows on the table. "Gato hired nukenin last time, but this time, he's hired samurai."

Ko choked. "Samurai? Like those super-fast kenjutsu dudes?"

"Yes," Kakashi nods.

"Genin definitely won't be able to keep up with samurai, and you can't train them explicitly to even keep up with the speed, you don't have the time." Yamato frowned. "This is a dangerous mission."

"The family ticked it as a D-rank," Yugao commented.

Kakashi sits back into his chair. "That's what tipped us off. Last time we were here, they said they wouldn't ask for D-ranks. Something about being diligent enough to do their own house chores."

"So they're trying to mask the mission's danger," Himari muses, tucking a stray strand of navy hair behind her ear. "Who are they trying to hide it from?"

All of the (ex-)ANBU members exchange a glance. They all had the same suspect. Kakashi cleared his throat. "That's why I called you all."

"For us to help, or step in?" Genma asks.

Kakashi sighed. "I don't know yet. The kids can get a lot out of this, but that's only if it runs smoothly. If we run into a set of jonin-level samurai, they're dead."

"Agreed," Yamato nods.

"They are genin," Genma muttered. "It's not a good idea for genin to fight against hostile samurai."

"Chunin." Kakashi corrected. The rest of the team's eyebrows shoot up. "It was unofficial, but the Sandaime promoted them before the exams."

"Chunin, huh?" Yugao grinned. "Well since they're chunin, that changes it up a little. As chunin, they deserve the experience. What better than going against enemy samurai?"

Himari frowns. "But, if they're not trained adequately, then it's like digging out their own grave. We need to think this through."

"Sasuke can keep up with the movement," Kakashi recounts from earlier, when he had showed his two students how fast samurai usually moved while Naruto had run to Konoha, "using his Sharingan. Sakura can keep up wth predictable movement, but those who can change it up while moving will definitely take her down. Sasuke also can't move and react that fast, so he knows what's happening, but can't do anything about it."

Genma purses his lips. "Ah, right. The Sharingan. You have an Uchiha. All we have to do is train them to fight from the shadows and long-range, while we take them on short-range. Right?"

Himari sits forwards. "Let's figure out our approach to infiltrating the place first, and then we can decide on what to do."

Kakashi smiled. It was great to have his teammates around him again; they knew him well enough that they can predict his train of thought, which was incredibly convenient so he wouldn't have to relay everything to them. Not to mention, all of them had no problem with taking charge when they have an idea or a strong opinion, which can help the rest of the team understand what each person thought. As Himari recounted all of the facts they had and offered ideas of their approach, Kakashi smiled to himself, grateful for the umpteenth time that he had such a good team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this update is late - anyways, I hope you've liked this chapter! I'm really grateful to all you lovely readers out there who commented because they motivate me so much knowing that there are people who actually enjoy reading this, and I'm not just writing for it to be brushed past.  
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	15. Konoha's Not-ANBU, III

Sasuke woke up, his internal alarm waking him.

He got up onto his feet, yawned, cracked his neck, and glanced outside for the time. The sun had already risen, almost all of it above the horizon. Seven o'clock, a little before it was precisely seven, but close enough. The Uchiha glanced around the room to see Naruto and Sakura both still asleep and debated on whether he should wake them up or not. Naruto must've arrived during the night. Sighing, the boy leaned down and tapped Naruto's shoulder.

The Uzumaki twitched.

"Time to get up, dobe," Sasuke hissed, snapping his fingers right in front of Naruto's face.

His teammate sniffs, but then turns onto his side and completely ignores Sasuke. The Uchiha scowled. Mustering up pure chakra onto his fingertips, it only occurred to Sasuke that the voltage may be too much _after_ he had sent his electricity-affinity chakra straight at Naruto's face.

Naruto shot up, and Sasuke stifled a snort at his panicking look.

The Uzumaki instantly realised what had happened, his left eyebrow twitching. "What the hell, teme? That was uncalled for!"

Sasuke ignored him, moving onto Sakura, and gently shook her shoulder. "Time to get up, Usagi."

Sakura peeked open an eye. "Already?" She yawned.

"See how easy it is to wake her up?" Sasuke gave Naruto a look. "I had to zap you with chakra to get you up."

"Mean," Naruto poked out his tongue, tugging his cloak onto his back. He checked all of his pouches, making sure than all of his scrolls were there, especially those that stored his weapons and items.

Sakura stood up, stretching. "Let's go downstairs. Sensei's probably waiting. Welcome back, Naruto."

Naruto smiled. "Good to be back."

All three of them quietly made their way downstairs, knowing that Tazuna and his family were still sleeping. As they were halfway down the stairs, the delicious smell of miso soup wafted up to their noses, and all three of them exchanged a glance. Breakfast.

"Morning," Sasuke called, entering the kitchen.

Kakashi stood at the stove, leaning against the counter as he waited for the soup to cook. "Morning, brat."

"Morning!" Sakura chirped.

"Morn," Naruto grinned, "nice to see ya, sensei."

"Good to see you too," Kakashi eye-smiles.

Someone walks in while whistling, commenting, "I smelt the famous Hound miso. When's it ready?"

"Shiranui-san?" Sasuke blinked.

Genma smiled. "Hey, taichou's kids. I'm part of Team Ro, and we're going to spend some time with y'all."

"I never knew you were in ANBU," Sakura smiled back.

"Ma," Genma shrugged, "I wasn't in there for long."

"Yeah, about a year and a half," Kakashi informed his team, before opening the miso pot and stirring the contents slowly. "We've got a plan already for the mission."

His three students exchange a glance and look back at him. Naruto grinned. "Hell yeah."

"Himari," Kakashi nods, "she'll tell you the details. Ko's out scouting out our two destinations and Himari will join him after she briefs you, so when they're back with results we'll head out."

"Two destinations?" Sakura picked up.

"We're going to the Waves daimyo's little palace," Genma starts taking out bowls and spoons form the kitchen, "and then that lair you've been to."

"The plan's down," Himari states, walking into the room. Team 7 turns to her, ready to take in information. The Hyuga smiles, before taking a seat on a barstool beside the team, who stood next to the kitchen counter.

"We're pairing up, right?" Sasuke asks.

"Correct," Himari nods, "you'll each be with a member of Team Ro. Sakura, you're with Yamato. Naruto, you're with Yugao. And Sasuke, you're with Genma. All three of your teams will head to Gato, whereas Kakashi, Ko and I will be going to the daimyo's place."

"Right," Sakura nods.

"Since Naruto and Sasuke have worked with their partners before, we'll have the two of you sharpening up your abilities with them and potentially learning something new. However, Sakura, since Yamato is a new teammate, the two of you will be working on sharing your abilities and getting used to working with each other."

"Hai," the three of them chorus.

"We'll have breakfast first," Himari smiled.

"Here," Genma and Kakashi both held two bowls of soup on his hands and placed them down. Despite being the top shinobi inside of Konoha, Team 7 couldn't help but think they were almost like the legal guardians of three children who was just serving them breakfast in preparation for the three to go to school like a normal family would. Then Kakashi gave them an eye-smile.

"You shouldn't eat too much."

Let's just leave it at the fact that Team 7 only drank half their soup.

**|/\|\/|**

"You have Wood Release?!"

"...yes?"

"That is so cool! Did you have Lord First's cells implanted in you, or maybe are you a direct descendant? I mean, both are really cool anyway. I can't believe I'm seeing someone who has Wood Release..."

"I was implanted with cells."

"Then you must be a result of S-S' experiments. Amazing. I thought you had all been dealt with. This is so cool!"

"Er, should we get to training?"

"Right. Sorry, Yamato-san."

"It's not bad, Sakura. It's quite refreshing to see someone who's excited to see my Wood Release."

"I can do Earth Release and a little Water Release. I had Kurenai-san tutor me on genjutsu too. Oh, and Himari-san taught me a little medical ninjutsu."

"Interesting. So Earth Release is your affinity?"

"Yes."

"Show me your most comfortable jutsu."

"Cha!"

"That...was impressive for your age. Very. Anything I should know?"

"Sensei gave us all an emergency jutsu that does a lot of damage...I have Doton: Doryo Dango."

"Right. I seem to recall that from somewhere when taichou used it smash a bunch of - ah. Let's not go there. How would you describe your chakra control?"

"I'm the best out of my team, Yamato-san."

"Even better than the Uchiha?"

"Hai."

"That's good. First things first, which do you prefer? Earth or genjutsu?"

"Genjutsu, Yamato-san. It sits better with me, and I find it easier to reserve chakra on it."

"Alright. Show me what you can do."

"Yamato-san?"

"Place me under your genjutsus and describe what's happening. That's the most effective way."

"Hai! _Jubaku Satsu_! Yamato-san, this is a B-rank genjutsu that Kurenai-san taught me. Do you see the tree that's growing at your feet? That's part of it, and once you think you're fully immobilised, then I come from the tree and stab you with a kunai."

"Kai. Interesting."

"You know Narakumi no Jutsu, right? Sensei taught it to me."

"Ah, the hell-viewing technique. Yes."

"Then I also have _Kasumi Juusha no Jutsu_."

"Clones?"

"No, Yamato-san. They look like clones, but they're really just a genjutsu. They cannot attack, which is why I don't have too many and use my weapons to pretend they can attack. You can't dispel them like a normal clone jutsu, they'll just part."

"Ah. Like mist. I see."

"Lastly, I have Chotosu."

"I know this one. The reckless one which gives the targets a blown up ego and confidence so they think they can achieve anything."

"Hai. They usually also forget about using E and D-rank jutsus, which can work out in our favour."

"Very interesting. Now, Sakura, I'd like you to fight against me."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Shannaro!"

"That was fast."

"Lesson eleven; always assume something is happening at that exact moment, unless otherwise told."

"Of course Hound-senpai would tell you that."

**|/\|\/|**

"Uzuki-san! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Naruto-kun."

"Jeez, Uzuki-san, why are you giving me that deadpan look?"

"Have you improved at _all_ from the last time I saw you?"

"Uzuki-san! Have more faith in me! Of course, dattebayo!"

"Prove it."

"Eh?"

"Come on. Come and try to get me, you little fox."

" _Kyouchikutou no Jumon!_ "

"Huh?"

"It's a genjutsu! Like it, Uzuki-san?"

"Baka. Kai. You don't just say it-"

" _Kage Bushin no Jutsu! Kaze Bunshin Bakuha_."

"What did you just mutter?"

"Stop dodging my clones! And why would I tell you?"

"Why wouldn't I dodge your clones? And because you're an idiot, that's why."

"That's not nice! _Kage Bushin no Jutsu!_ "

"If you keep summoning them, I'll keep killing them."

"Oh? Let's do this!"

"What the fuck was that?"

"Bad language, Uzuki-san!"

"You have exploding clones, now? Very cool, I must say."

"Cool, right? See, see? I'm better now!"

"Not really."

"Did you just-"

"You didn't realise, did you?"

"What's the new seal?"

"It's not new. It's old."

"I haven't seen it before..."

"This one? I thought I showed you."

"Uzuki-san, can you draw it so I don't have to twist my arm to see it? And take it off! My arm feels like it's going to be torn off from all the weight that's on it!"

"Ah. Right."

"So...that's for weight, multiplication, invisibility, covert, gravity, and permanence. Right?"

"That's not invisibility, but you're close. It's the activation one."

"Ehhh? They look the same!"

"No, here."

"Uzuki-san, it's just a curl!"

"Baka, that curl changes everything!"

"Hai, hai..."

"Now, redraw this. I want it to be perfect."

"Uzuki-san?"

"Just use this stick and copy it into the dirt. This is good to use against samurai, who mainly focuses on speed rather than strength."

"Hai!"

"No. Do that weight seal again. You need more flick."

"Like this?"

"Better. Have you ever practised any of your seals?"

"Yes, I have! Just not the weight one..."

"And not the multiplication nor covert, I see."

"Uzuki-san!"

**|/\|\/|**

"Eh, so what do you specialise in?"

"Kenjutsu and dojutsu, Shiranui-san."

"Interesting. Now Kakashi said something about your eyes being fast enough but your movements aren't. Which is why we're focusing on long-range attacks for you chunin, and letting us ANBU do all the frontline work."

"Chunin? Did sensei tell you about our promotion?"

"Yeah. Now show what you can do, kenjutsu kid."

"Don't call me a kid."

"We'll see about that."

"I'm coming."

"Nice swing. Though I do have to say, even if I'm not a kenjutsu master myself, but you seem rather unbalanced. Spread out your feet a little wider, Uchiha."

"Hai."

"Eh, you seem rather complaint to orders."

"Sensei trusts you enough to teach me."

"Interesting. Kid, that was a stupid move. I want you to interpret the human body motions in order to think ahead. Then you can predict the movements and create less risk."

"Shiranui-san?"

"I use senbon, kid. Senbon are needles, and you have a limited amount. If you don't hit the right place, that's the needles wasted. This is something you have to know as someone who is a shinobi, and more specifically, bukijutsu users. Those with weapons don't have the luxury of shaping chakra to their needs and swiftly changing their attack direction. You have to be confident, Uchiha."

"Hai."

"Good. Better. Now faster."

"Faster?"

"I'm a long-range fighter. Most likely, you'll have to step in once in a while."

"Then why are we paired up, with all due respect?"

"Mmm? I can hold off samurai easily, but it's mostly for you chunin's benefit."

"Oh."

"And what the hell was that? Your opponent will try and sweet talk you, well, most of them will. What's with that soft attack? Uchiha!"

"Hai!"

"Fight with the intention to kill. You shouldn't be an innocent genin anymore, so come at me."

" _Dendou Hari Hiirogari no Jutsu._ "

"Mmm? Do you have to mutter the jutsu name? It's not very smart. What if someone had enhanced hearing?"

"But you don't, Shiranui-san."

"True. But, it's good to be cautious. Faster, kid. Faster. You can't hold your own against samurai by just doing that."

"Hiyah!"

"Nice needles, too obvious."

"Hai."

"Don't take this as a sign that all samurai are formidable, they'll definitely have stupid runts like our genin. But, as a former infiltrator, I know for a fact that they graduate into samurai by taking speed tests and kenjutsu examinations. They focus on that."

"Hai!"

"Sadly, you chose that area to specialise in."

"Shiranui-san, why does your senbon manage to parry my blade?"

"It's not the length of the blade that makes a big difference, it's the user. See, I've been using senbon since I was young. Probably younger than you. So I have much more experience, and I know what strength I need to use. Sparing against a lot of other opponents can help you get used to different styled fighters. I supposed maybe Gai's disciple could help you."

"Rock Lee? He's loud."

"How else do you think Kakashi's one of our best taijutsu fighters?"

"...ah."

"Faster, kid. Do I need to say it again?"

"Shiranui-sa-"

"You'll need your Sharingan for this."

"Hai!"

**|/\|\/|**

"Back already?" Kakashi raised his eyebrows, as Ko and Himari walked into the house.

"It's not that far," Ko shrugged. Himari looked a little dishevelled, but otherwise, was fine. Ko, on the other hand, looked like he just had the time of his life, a wide smile on his face and his hair all tousled.

Yugao walked in, biting down on a carrot she had in her hand. "So, what's the report?"

"The daimyo's place is under light security, and their sensory abilities are chunin at best." Ko recounted. "They have some sort of force that's like a mesh in between shinobi and samurai, though they didn't look particularly well-trained."

"Of course," Genma nods, sipping on a cup of hot water. "Infusing shinobi and samurai together is hard. This isn't the first time it's been done, but usually, they lack a certain field of ability."

"Which one?" Sakura asked, looking up from where she was washing the dishes. "Which field?"

"You can't be certain," Yugao smiles reassuringly at her, "different people have different areas they specify in."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Which means in order to know which field they lack, you have to fight against them?"

"Correct," Himari nods.

"What about Gato's lair?" Yamato asked.

"Their security is nothing like the daimyo's," Himari frowned, "it's completely bulked up. They have patrols with five-minute intervals in between, and they have at least ten people stationed on a floor."

"That's nothing like before," Sasuke commented.

"They must have some sort of thing they have to protect now," Kakashi notes. "Anything else?"

"Majority are samurai and some mesh." Himari twirled a dark-purple strand of hand in her fingers. "Though, I did manage to catch a couple of shinobi as well. But I only saw two."

"Shinobi, huh?" Kakashi leaned further back into his seat. "Interesting. Brats, go get some rest. We leave in three."

"Hours?" Naruto asked.

"Yes."

"Hai!"

The three chunin ducked their heads down in a curt bow before silently walking up the stairs, their feet now used to making no sounds as they moved. Team Ro watched them before they heard the bedroom door close and they all looked at Kakashi.

"Taichou," Himari starts.

"I know." Kakashi furrows his brows. "But you guys will be there."

Genma chuckled. "It's nice to know that you trust us so much that you'd even give us the responsibility of your kids, but this is getting serious."

"It was always going to get serious." Kakashi shrugged.

"You can't argue with that," Yugao muttered, settling down and taking another bite out of her carrot. "Though I gotta say, Naruto's going really well. His seals are impossibly intricate at his age."

"The Uchiha learns fast too. Managed to get up to average samurai speed today," Genma agreed.

"Sakura's genjutsus are amazingly detailed," Yamato gave Kakashi a withering look, "especially the hell-viewing technique. Senpai, what did you teach her? Seriously?"

Kakashi shrugged. "It's good for her to master it." He stands up, stretching. "Who's up for a light spar before we go storm the daimyo's lovely mansion?"

"Hell yes," Genma grinned, "today's the day, taichou."

"I'd like to see you defeat me." Kakashi grins.

Up in the chunin's room, the three chunin lay side by side, eyes wide open, mind wide awake. The three of them knew that they all were awake, but didn't utter a single word. Naruto tossed to the side, facing Sakura, and the girl's sharp eyes glanced downwards before quickly refocusing on the ceiling. Sasuke concentrated on his breathing, but it seemed louder than normal.

"Goddamn it," Naruto shot up, "I can't sleep."

"Rest doesn't mean sleep," Sasuke said flatly. "Lie back down."

"What did you guys do with your partner today?" Sakura offered. "I worked on my genjutsu abilities since we're mainly focusing on long-range."

Naruto tentatively lay back down, staring up at the wooden ceiling. "Er, I did some sealing stuff. You know. Just practising the seals."

"Just speedwork." Sasuke sighed. "And reaction times. Most of the reactions were leaping out of the way though, I wasn't even allowed to parry a blow."

They fell back into an awkward silence, hearing faint cheers from outside. Naruto tried looking backwards, almost pulling himself into a bridge, before sighing and giving up, flopping back onto his bed.

"I wonder what they're doing," Naruto said suddenly.

"Sparring." Sasuke squinted as the room got dimmer as the sun went down. "If you listen hard enough, you can hear the jutsu and clashes of metal."

"Ah." Naruto fell silent.

Sakura blinked. "They haven't seen each other in so long. I wonder why? I mean, maybe a reunion every year or something could work."

"Who knows?" Sasuke frowned. "Probably be too busy doing their current job."

"Too many missions," Naruto agreed, "they probably couldn't find the time to actually schedule a meeting. But like, sensei and Shiranui-san hang out once a month. I heard from Uzuki-san that she and Himari-san have lunch once in a while."

"Mmm." Sakura nods slowly. "Hey, once we're that old, do you think we could create an annual catch up?"

"Maybe." Naruto grinned. "That would be cool."

Sasuke tossed onto his side, away from his teammates. "If we're alive."

The other two members of Team 7 peer at him, with Sakura, the furthest away, propping up onto her elbows. "What makes you say that?" Naruto asked, frowning.

Sasuke doesn't turn around. "I mean, war's around the corner, and no doubt we're going to be pulled into it. Also, the three of us are chosen ones, in a sense. I've got to avenge my clan, and you all know that bastard's an S-rank missing-nin. Also, dobe is a Jinchuriki. Who knows what kinds of people look for him. I don't need to talk about Sakura, the heir to the rich Haruno clan now, do I? I'll probably die first, my brother's pretty strong. Most likely I'll end up dying with him from chakra exhaustion or something."

"I won't let that happen," Sakura said defiantly.

"It's my fight." Sasuke snarled, suddenly hostile, scowling.

Naruto tapped his teammate's shoulder, and the raven-head visible relaxed. "We know. You can fight him. But just know that we'll be there to watch your back, okay? Sakura's going to heal any of your wounds and I'll make sure that the two of us don't get hurt."

"I can make sure I don't get injured," Sakura said, scowling.

Naruto sighed. "You know what I mean! Right?"

Sasuke cracked a small smile, but still didn't turn around to hide it from his teammates. "Whatever."

"He smiled!" Naruto pumped a fist into the air. "Hell yes!"

"No, I didn't." Sasuke wiped it off his face almost instantly.

"I knew it!" Naruto grinned widely at Sakura, who smiled dryly back. "I know he did, I just do!"

Sakura patted his blond hair. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Now let's get some rest like sensei told us to. If we don't, it can seriously impair us on our ability to fight."

"Hai!" Naruto smiled, reminding Sakura of the times he used to smile that innocent smile during their Academy days, before the blond boy lay back down on his makeshift bed - just his cloak and some clothes.

Sasuke stiffened slightly, before sighing and turning back onto his back, onto to see Sakura kneeling beside him. "What are you doing?"

Sakura just smiled and ruffled his hair. "Get some rest, Sasuke."

The Uchiha blinked as she climbed back over Naruto to slide under her cloak. Sasuke paused, before reaching up slowly to touch his raven strands. Did she just - what? What was that? Was that just a friendly thing or just something teammates did or -

A slow rich melody started to fill the room, and the two boys shift slightly to look at Sakura, who was humming to herself as she snuggled deeper into her bed, and the two of them exchange a glance before closing their own eyes.

It felt like a short five minutes before Kakashi was knocking on their door again, calling out their nicknames softly. "Come on, rabbit, fox, raven. We're heading out."

"Hai," the three of them chorus, a little sluggishly. All it took was a stretch before the three of them were fully awake, quickly shuffling around the room to stock up on their weapons and sharpen up on their kunais - and in Sasuke's case, his katana. Kakashi opened the door to see Naruto giving them their masks from the scroll he had stored them in, Sasuke passing out the sharp blades he had sharpened, and Sakura folding up their clothes they had used as their bed.

"Prepared?" Kakashi eye-smiled.

Team 7 smiled back. "Hai!"

"Naruto-kun!" Yugao's voice floated up from downstairs. "Remember to bring a lot of ink and chakra!"

"Hai!" Naruto yelled back. The rest of Team 7 deadpanned. Bring lots of chakra? Those two were just the same.

"We should say something to Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari." Sakura nods.

"They're waiting downstairs," Kakashi eye-smiles, "Inari just came back from school."

"Whoo!" Naruto grinned, and the four of them make their way downstairs. Sasuke stood a little to the side, which didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi, who gently placed a hand on his student's shoulder to usher the Uchiha closer to his teammates.

Inari stood at the front door, smiling. "Naruto-nii!"

"Inari!" The two of then hug as if they hadn't seen each other that morning, which they had, and Sakura smiled dryly as Sasuke gave then a full-on deadpan.

"I'll be back before you know it," Naruto was saying, "and then we can eat as much of my tamagoyaki as we'd like!"

"Hai!" Inari beamed.

"I'll make those samurai go boom!" Naruto grinned, cracking his knuckles. Yugao chuckled, before knocking the boy lightly on the head.

"Alright, Make-them-go-boom-sama, let's get to our destination first, shall we?"

Naruto grinned up at the woman. "Hai!"

"Good luck," Tsunami smiled warmly, "and I'll prepare tomorrow's lunch for you all."

One thing that Kakashi liked about this family was that they thought positive. He couldn't count how many families had looked after him for a short period before he announced he had to go to take care of a mission, and they all looked at him like he was walking to his own grave. No doubt Naruto was now looking forwards to Tsunami's cooking and was probably looking to get some tips from her.

"Tch."

Kakashi's smile turned dry. Of course. Then there was the sour old man who gave everyone a reality check.

"Have you taught them ANBU hand signs?" Genma asked, walking into the living room, a towel around his neck after having a shower.

Kakashi shrugs. "A little. Just the most basic ones."

Sasuke demonstrated. "Left, right, forwards, backwards, Konoha, Suna, Ame, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, Oto. Er, shinobi, samurai. Go, stop. Continue."

"That's decent," Genma nods, before taking the towel off his shoulders and placing it on the back of a dining chair. "Let's get going."

All of them look at Kakashi, who looked at all of the shinobi in the room slowly. Naruto. Sasuke. Sakura. Genma. Yugao. Ko. Himari. Yamato. The silver-haired jonin eye-smiles, before making the sign for 'go'.

They all _shunshin_ out, leaving the three civilians behind, Inari clinging tightly to Tsunami's hand.

**|/\|\/|**

"Here's the plan," Yamato drew quickly in the ground using a stick and sand. "Because you've been in this building before, we'll go with the levels you've already been to."

"I took one to five," Sakura said helpfully.

"I took six to ten," Sasuke nods.

"Then I did eleven to fifteen." Naruto peered up at the tall building, lit up with lights from the inside. "There's the two at the very top, which hold most of the goods, form what we got before. S-S was also up there."

It unnerved Team Ro slightly at Naruto's more professional shinobi like personality switch, especially with his mask on. But it was a good kind of unnerving, and it made him more of a shinobi than an innocent little boy.

"Rabbit and I will take the lower six levels," Yamato sketched out a rough image of the building. "Raven and Viper will take the next six. Then, Fox and Bear can take the top five levels. If there are still goods inside, I want them sealed and banned."

"We get less, huh?" Yugao shrugged. "I'm good with that."

"If we get through this smoothly," Yamato winced behind his mask at how pessimistic he sounded, "then we meet up back here. Understood?"

Sakura shifted slightly, moving her rabbit mask on her face. Her short pink hair was tied back into a short ponytail, and her cloak was stashed under the root of a set of trees, along with the rest of Team 7's cloaks. Somehow, the three of them fit in quite well with Team Ro, their uniform not standing out as much as they thought it would.

Yamato nods. "Fox, Raven, Rabbit. Remember; long-range. Don't engage without the order from your superior."

"Hai," the three of them chorus from behind their masks, glancing quickly at each other.

Yugao perked up, mask darting a fast look at the building. "Now's a good time."

Yamato stands up, and they all follow.

"We move out now."

"Hai."


	16. Konoha's Not-ANBU, IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 camouflage in with Team Ro; Naruto destroys a wall; and Sasuke faces a samurai.

"We have intruders," a man yelled, storming through the seventeenth level. "Tell Gato-sama!"

The two samurai standing outside of Gato's office door exchanged a look, nodded at each other, before the slimmer one knocked lightly on the door. "Gato-san, there's been an alert of an intruder. We're coming in."

Gato burst out of the door instead, gripping the back of his neck. "Let's kill them first."

"Gato-san-"

"No," the bulkier one snarled with a menacing smirk, "let's do as Gato-san says. Killing is always fun."

Gato pushed up his sunglasses. "I want all the intruders gone."

"Well that's not nice," a female voice said candidly. "We're here to kill you."

"We are?" The shorter boy next to her said. The slim samurai, who went by the name of Zori, unsheathed his sword with practised grace. The two masked intruders were instantly on alert, with the boy - how old was that shorty? Ten? What was he doing here? - ducking behind the purple-haired woman, who nonchalantly took out her own sword.

"Fox." The woman crouched defensively. "Ready?"

The boy cracked his knuckles. "Hell yeah."

"I have no time," Gato snarled, "Zori, dispose of them. Waraji, let's go."

"But I want to kill them!" Waraji protested.

"There's more downstairs!" The blond boy said helpfully. "They'll kill you too!"

Zori moved, slicing forwards. His eyes widen slightly as the woman parried using her own katana, fast and strong. The purple-haired fighter - shinobi, it looked like a ninja-style of kenjutsu - easily kept up with his cuts and thrusts, and even managed to land a cut on his shoulder. Gato didn't even look back before rushing down the emergency stairs, Waraji following reluctantly.

"Fox, move it!" The woman yelled suddenly, swinging around.

"Hai!" The boy was gone in the blink of an eye, and his form shimmered before completely disappearing.

Zori glared at the woman in front of him. "I'm just warming up, bitch."

"Oh?" She swung a leg out, toppling Zori's balance, but he just flipped backwards, tossing his beanie to the side before rolling up his sleeves.

The samurai grinned. "Let's do this, _shinobi_."

" _Samurai_ ," she spat back, using the same amount of venom. Her eyes widened under the mask as he disappeared. Her head darted to the left, the right, upwards, backwards, before barely blocking the katana aimed for her torso from behind.

Her blade made a cracking sound, but it didn't break. Wrapping chakra around the two blades to keep them together, the purple-haired woman tightened her grasp on her hilt before swinging her leg up to roundhouse kick Zori. The samurai ducked, yanking his blade through her chakra to back away, charging as soon as he regained his footing. Something flashed in the corner of his eye, and he lashed out, nearly catching the kunoichi's hand.

Which held a brush.

With dripping ink.

His eyes narrow. Fuinjutsu. She knew how to draw seals? This was vital information. He had to keep an eye on her hands.

"Eyes here," the woman cooed, and the samurai barely blocked her blade.

He huffed, leaping a couple of steps back. She was quite decent at taijutsu and kenjutsu too. This was no ordinary shinobi. He took in a breath, steadied his body, before shooting forwards, cutting his sword in an arc.

Zori completely lopped the woman's head off. At the same time, he felt the ground underneath him shift as a boom echoed from the other side of the level. Zori grit his teeth, glancing back at the woman to double-check that she was dead, before going to check up on the other side.

But then she poofed away into smoke, disappearing.

"Clone?" He muttered. Whirling around, expecting an attack, he didn't expect other samurai to burst out of the corridor entrance behind him. Zori raised his voice. "Oi, over here you bastards!"

"Zori-san," one called out, giving the blue-haired man a curt nod, "have you seen a short blond boy?"

"No?" The samurai furrowed his brows. Short and blond? That boy from before? Did he create that large boom?

His eyes catch something and he darts out of a way of a shooting line of black seals. He strikes down on it, effectively cutting the seal line in half. The purple-haired woman appeared behind him, blade swinging out.

His eyes widen, raising his blade-

-only to find it too heavy to hold.

The last thing he saw was the intimidating bear mask decorated with red patterns before his eyes were splatted with blood.

The ANBU landed lightly on the ground, watching the head of the light-blue-haired samurai roll on the ground. A sudden yell from behind caught her attention, and Yugao instantly ducked behind Zori's corpse and uses it as a shield against a set of senbon. Her eyes widen slightly. This must be a mesh. Samurai were proud in that they thought the longer and wider the blade, the better.

Yugao looked around Zori's body but had to duck behind again as another flurry of senbon flew towards her. She quickly took out a scroll and released the items inside. Two katanas popped out, and the shinobi quickly _shunshined_ with her items behind a pillar as a senbon caught her on her arm. Checking up on her wound, she deemed it to be fine, blowing on it lightly to let the blood solidify.

Silently, she quickly made the symbol for the shadow clone technique, forming two other versions of her, and darted out, each of her clones having a sword. This all happened in a matter of seconds, and the three Yugaos attacked. Hayate's voice distantly echoed in her mind; _I call this the Mikasuki no Mai, or the Dance of the Cresent Moon. Try and learn this, Yugao-chan._

Slicing through the majority of the force, Yugao winced as she felt both her clones disperse in the midst of it, before ducking under someone else's blade and stabbed him in the stomach.

"Whoo," she slowly regained her even breathing as she killed the last one, "that was better than expected."

Walking silently back to Zori's body, she glanced down at his blade, which was covered in seals - the exact same ones she had used against Naruto in their earlier spar. Whispering a quiet "Kai." and bending down to pick up the blade, she looked over it as the seals slowly disappeared, and mimed a couple of attacks with it. She whistled appreciatively as she sealed it into a spare scroll, before picking up her two other katanas that her clones had left and slid them both into the sheathes on her back.

She pulled all the corpses to a side, not sparing any chakra into sealing all of them into a scroll. There was no need, the Konoha-nin should be old news now, most of Gato's fighting force must've been notified of their intrusion. She held her own katana tightly in her hand, before glancing at the entrance the horde of shinobi-samurai had come from.

Bolting down the side hallway and arriving on the other side of the seventeenth floor, Yugao raised her eyebrows at the sight of a completely demolished wall that was then exposing the whole hallway to a cool night air and starry night sky. Naruto coughed awkwardly from where he was tying a bandage on his left bicep, and a pile of corpses were behind him.

"Sorry," he scratched his head, "I may have used a little too much chakra from the Kyuubi into my exploding clones."

Yugao smiled dryly, though he couldn't see it under her mask. She glanced at the gigantic hole in the left wall, seeing the small lights of the mainland shore blinking, far away. She then looks down at Naruto, who picked up a kunai and twirled it.

"Next level?" He questioned.

"Check out the rooms first," Yugao nods at a door behind him. "We'll do it together."

"Hai," Naruto before kicking open the door behind him. Both of their sensory ranges reached into the room quickly, looking for any type of threat. There wasn't any chakra or life signature inside, but both of them were on guard.

Yugao scrunched up her nose in disgust. "What is this shit?"

"Swearing," Naruto reminded, but it sounded half-hearted. "It smells weird."

"I feel sorry for Kakashi," Yugao muttered.

"Should we seal it?" Naruto looked up at his superior. The woman nods. "Alright! So we use the Boundary Technique?"

Yugao nods again. "I'll go check out the other rooms. Seal this one."

Naruto gives her a thumbs up, and the woman knew that he was smiling widely under his mask. The ANBU shook her head while ruffling his blond curls before walking out of the room, swinging her katana in hand.

The Uzumaki wasted no time in taking out the cork of his ink bottle which was inside his thigh pouch, placing the glass tube on his belt, strapping it in. _Shunshining_ to the four corners of the room, Naruto was careful not to leave any footsteps or any sign that he was in this room. He'd have to realign the door properly since it was hanging off a little.

Dipping a white-haired brush into his ink bottle, he tried to draw the seals on as fast as he could but knew that if he stuffed up the application, then the seals wouldn't do whatever they were supposed to do.

From his sensory range, the chunin's defensive mode came on as soon as he was alerted of new presences.

Jamming his ink brush in between his teeth, the boy quickly fixed the door and closed it silently, keeping tabs on the new signatures that were coming onto the seventeenth level. Picking his brush back up into his hands, he let out a shaky breath before calming himself down and getting regular breaths. There was more than just two people coming closer; there had to be at least six. They were standing close to each other, probably back to back.

Eyeing the room, Naruto knew he had to continue to draw the seals, and so he silently moved across the room. He had heard from somewhere - cough, sensei, cough - that both shunshin and Kawarimi had a small sound to it when you used it, and you'd flare your chakra slightly when you used them, so the best way to remain undercover was to go the old-fashioned way; silent movement.

"Oi, what happened to this wall?" A person asked.

Naruto held in a chuckle as he finished the second corner's seals.

"You don't think all of the guards are dead, right?" Another asked. "I mean, seventeen's supposed to have the best security!"

"Rumoured," a female remarked dryly. "A lot of the floors have huge security numbers."

"Let's go in here-"

"Are you an idiot? That room's filled with Gato-sama's items, you can't just storm inside!"

"Just to check up on it!"

"Not even the Chui can go inside!"

"Really? But they're Gato-sama's closest right-hand men!"

"Woman. There's a woman in there."

"None of the four are allowed to go inside the doors. Let's just use San's sensory abilities to check in anyone's inside."

"Good idea."

"Leave it to me."

Naruto quickly quelled the chakra fire in himself, hoping that it was enough. Thankfully, the Kyuubi took notice of what was happening, and the two of them squashed their chakra as much as possible.

_So the girl's a sensor, eh, kit?_

Naruto narrowed his eyes. _Kyuubi, I don't think we're going to cut it. Our chakra's too refined and we have a lot of it._

_We're thinking the same thing here, brat._

_Alright._

_Close that ink bottle first, or else that Uzuki will kill you._

_Ah, right._

Quickly getting ready, the Uzumaki spun a kunai in his hand before _shunshining_ out, startling the seven people outside.

"I am really sorry, but," Naruto spun around, kicked three of them in succession. "Are you guys afraid of heights?"

"What?" A green-haired girl spluttered, just managing to dart out of the way. _That's the sensor,_ Kurama noted. All seven of them glanced fearfully at the hole in the wall, which was an open-air to the outside, where there was nothing to stop them from freefalling seventeen tall levels if they were tossed out.

Naruto held up a set of paper in his left hand, tossing the kunai in his right at someone behind him, before blowing the small paper bits into the air while they were distracted. He grinned. _Negative,_ he thought to the Bijuu inside of him. " _Futon: Shinkuha_!"

_Roger._

_Thanks, Kyuubi._

Twirling on the spot, wind gusts and cuts revolved around Naruto, but then it burst out quickly, as if he had run out of chakra. The paper flew everywhere getting into the seven trainees' eyes and faces. Naruto could tell they were 'in-training' by simply their stance and body placement. It was something Team 7 had learnt by just gaining experience doing random C-ranks throughout the three months of routine training.

Naruto flipped backwards, managing to catch each and every one of the seven pairs of wide eyes. " _Kyouchikutou no Jumon._ "

He knew that he wasn't the best with genjutsu, but personally, he quite liked this one. That reminded him, did Kakashi have an unlimited knowledge of jutsu? Because he seems to never run out, especially when handing out jutsus for his students to learn.

The green-haired girl let out a shrill yelp. "I was poisoned! Was I?"

"No, the paper must've been a secret weapon!" Another yelled.

Naruto _shunshined_ around the seven of them, easily overpowering them in taijutsu since they were all shaken and had no idea what was happening. He bound them up tightly using rope, before shoving them into the room he was currently in the middle of sealing.

"What are you doing - are you going to rape us?!"

Naruto's eye twitched. "You little piece of-"

"He's going to rape us-"

"Now why the hell would I rape you?" Naruto hit them all on the head hard enough that they shut up instantly and for a short while. He disappeared to the last two corners of the room, before placing his hands in a Ram sign, and the seals around the room lit up dimly.

"That's not something to say lightly." Naruto frowned.

He knelt in front of them, before touching one boy's jaw. He pressed lightly on a nerve underneath the jaw, and the boy's head lulled to the side after a short while, eyes fluttering close. A girl let out a scream. Naruto shot her a glare, but then reprimanded himself since he was wearing a goddamn mask.

"I didn't kill him," Naruto said. "I promise. I just knocked him out."

"I recognise it," the green-haired girl whispered, "that mask."

"Hmm?" Naruto reached out and knocked two others.

"Konoha's ANBU." The girl tried to shuffle away, but Naruto already had his hand pressed to her jaw.

Naruto smiled dryly, even though she couldn't see him. "Close. Though I'm not ANBU."

"What?"

The girl's head drooped.

"Not ANBU?" The guy next to her gave him a weird look. "But-"

"Fox," Yugao appeared at the door. "We need to get moving. We've stayed on seventeen for long enough."

Naruto quickly finished the rest, before nodding. "Okay."

"Those _kids_?" Yugao squints.

"Yeah," Naruto shunshined to her side. "So I knocked them out instead. One even thought that I was Konoha's ANBU."

Yugao glanced at him, before leaving the room and stood outside. "ANBU, huh? You sure look the part. Not so sure about the skill, though."

"Hey!" Naruto pouted, before walking out. The seals were already active, so he easily closed the door behind him. "Done."

"Let's go."

**|/\|\/|**

"I want you to remember," Genma says quietly, " _don't_ engage unless told."

Sasuke nods. "Yessir." The Uchiha internally scowled, not liking the way he was treated like a child. He was anything but a child. Graduating from the Academy meant you were automatically somewhat of an adult.

"Raven."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Was it just him, or did his superior's voice shake ever so slightly?

"Let's go," Genma cleared his throat, before completely destroying a window using just one senbon. Alerting all the people inside as he burst into the hallway, the ANBU member instantly used a jutsu to repel all of the surrounding threats as soon as he landed on solid ground.

Sasuke let out a breath, amazed. Large water streams came out Genma's mouth, and the man spun around to create some sort of circular blade that sliced everything in its path. No wonder how he got into the top ANBU squad. But Sasuke didn't falter; he followed the water attack with his own katana, cutting everything else that had withstood the water.

The two of them worked in sync, a sign of their teamwork they had formed over lessons and training sessions.

Sasuke felt his back hit Genma's as he stopped, heaving a large breath. "How was that, Viper-san?"

"Not bad," the older man smirked under the mask, "not bad at all." But then the ANBU tensed. "Seven coming from the left, two coming from the right. Five trained samurai all together, with four on the left and one on the right."

Sasuke gripped his katana tighter. Genma continued. "Let me take care of them."

"All of them?"

The brunet man paused. "You know what? Take the two on the right."

Without giving the Uchiha time to respond, Genma easily picked Sasuke up using one arm and tossed the twelve-year-old to the right side, pulling out senbon from his pockets using his other free hand in preparation.

Sasuke's eyes widen as he stumbled slightly as he landed. What happened to not engaging samurai-

He ducked, thrusting his blade out. A samurai's eyes widened sa Sasuke quickly - way too quickly - ducked under the samurai's blade and cleanly sliced his arm off. The chunin raised his eyebrows under the mask, darting forwards again. What happened to the speed samurai were meant to have?

Sasuke moved much faster than the man, to which the shinobi realised was only slightly older than him. The samurai looked twenty at best, and his eyes were wide in fear as Sasuke moved, only his eyes following the boy, almost hypnotically.

The Uchiha channelled chakra into his blade, and if you tried hard enough, you could hear the crackle of electricity just before he swung and almost decapitated the young man if it wasn't for-

-a second blade, easily parrying Sasuke's.

"I told you," a gruff voice grumbled, "don't be too hasty and underestimate. Look at this boy. Younger yet stronger than you, eh?"

Sasuke leapt back, Sharingan eyes analysing and calculating. The second man, much taller, buffer and older, had the longest katana Sasuke's ever seen. Not to mention, he had blocked Sasuke's chakra-infused blade with ease, almost too much ease that gave the Konoha-nin a warning.

The Uchiha cursed. He had evaluated the younger man wrong. The first one was simply a trainee, whereas the second one looked more like a real samurai.

Sasuke shifted his footing.

"See that?" The man swung his blade confidently. "He just changed from attack to defence. That's called smart, boy."

The man who had just _lost an arm_ simply nodded, as if the missing limb did nothing to impair his physical ability. Sasuke let out a small 'tch'. This was getting annoying.

"Watch," the man said, before disappearing.

Sasuke's eyes followed. But like before in training, he was too slow. Only this time, the blade wasn't the flat side, but the sharp one. He hissed as the blade cut into his stomach, but he had managed to dodge so it didn't slam right through his stomach, rather, it sliced his skin. But it was quite deep.

All of Team 7 learnt the most basic medical ninjutsu, like how all of them learnt at least one genjutsu. It was just to stop the bleeding, almost like weak stitches.

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes spun once more before his genjutsu started to prepare, just as he managed to close up his wound quickly. The tall man was talking to the younger one, completely ignoring the fact that the latter might pass out from blood loss. Sasuke was suddenly grateful for the trainee. Because if he wasn't there, most likely the Konoha-nin would be skewered on the samurai's long sword. But since the older one was preoccupied with teaching, Sasuke was let off with easier attacks, which he suspected was to slow him down and let the smaller one finish him off.

Not like that was going to happen.

Not only did Kakashi give his students a genjutsu, but he also gave them a jutsu in a different element, which the jonin claimed was for 'a lovely surprise jutsu. Because you're young, many people would think you don't know many, so two elements would be their limit for you. But, since all of you have at least one extra to bump you to two elements, I'll give you one more - number three - as a surprise use.'

Sasuke's hands blur together in seals, and he saw the samurai stop talking instantly. " _Iwa Toge Fushido no Jutsu._ "

The boy slammed his hands on the ground, forcing chakra out, and the older man just managed to haul his student out of the way and dodge the large sharp spikes that shot out from the ground. Sasuke hissed, knowing that he spent more chakra than he was supposed to for his jutsu, but he still hadn't managed to get a hold of Earth Release like he did with Fire and Lightning. But the spikes were nice and large, some reached all the way up to the ceiling, whereas the others reached up to Sasuke's own height.

"Oho?" The man's eyes glinted. "This one's good."

Sasuke's eyes spun once more, and the genjutsu was set.

"I'll show you how it's done, kid." The man disappeared, and Sasuke whirled around, just managing to block another attacking using his katana. The spikes not only were dangerous if someone got caught on them, but they also narrowed down the places attacks could come from.

Sasuke parried each attack quickly, getting a hold of a pattern. But he was still unsure, and there was lesson nine; _never trust anything new, not patterns or anything you think you know._

But Sasuke still followed the pattern, turning one-hundred and eighty degrees to block the next attack, but it never came, breaking the pattern. The Uchiha smirked, but no one could see it, since the mask was blocking it. The Konoha-nin waited, waited before narrowly sidestepping the blade from behind, the long katana slicing the edge of his uniform and rushing past him. Sasuke grit his teeth, stumbling to the side as the samurai stood in his place, sword outstretched.

The younger one yelped.

But to the younger one's surprise, the samurai grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "And that's how it's done, kiddo."

"But-"

Sasuke didn't waste any time, his katana flashing before the samurai's head was detached from the body.

The chunin gasped for breath, leaning on his sword as he pulled out bandages from his thigh pouch, not going to waste his chakra on more medical ninjutsu, something he couldn't do on large wounds just yet. But as he reached into his pocket, he whirled around to face the younger one, his hands creating seals.

" _Dendou Hebi no Jutsu_ ," Sasuke muttered, shoving one of his hands into the ground before tossing two kunais using a free hand. The younger one dodged the kunais with ease, but then as soon as he stepped on the ground, a chain of lightning shot up from the ground, ensnaring his ankle.

Sasuke sighed, keeping his hand on the ground, before using his free hand to wrap bandages around his torso. You couldn't forget about the second threat, even though one of his arms were gone. Sasuke looked up once he finished bandaging, and the younger one was fruitlessly trying to weasel his way out of the lightning, to which Sasuke scoffed at. The large spikes sank back into the ground, leaving the hallway free, and Sasuke stalked towards the captured samurai-in-training.

"Any last words?" The Uchiha asked. It wasn't like him to ask, but Naruto and Sakura earlier had been talking about last words, and Sasuke felt a little bad for someone just older than him's last words to be 'but'.

The young man's eyes widen before his eyes started to droop. Sasuke sighed. Finally. The blood loss was kicking in. The chunin released him from the lightning chain, only to swing his sword and sliced open the man's throat, spewing red everywhere.

Sasuke didn't give the dead man another glance, only looking to the left to see Genma taking two at once. The Uchiha was just about to shoot forwards when Genma ducked and the two attackers somehow just fell limp, and from the looks of it, was dead. The younger boy's brain tried to process what happened...but then it hit him. Poison.

"Good job," Genma says, not even looking back at Sasuke, crouching down to examine the corpses. "You did well taking on a samurai and an in-training."

"I thought," Sasuke swallowed down his parched throat as he walked over to Genma, "I thought sensei said not to engage in samurai."

"That was in general." Genma looked up at the twelve-year-old. "However, you, out of your whole team would probably be the best suited for samurai. Don't forget kid, you're a prodigy. Or somewhat of one. Learning samurai speed in just a couple of days is amazing, especially when not trained by a samurai."

Genma stood up, ruffling Sasuke's hair, despite it being covered in blood. "Don't degrade yourself, Raven. Fox may be a fast adapter and Rabbit a good analyser, but you're good in your own way, kid. Let's go."

Sasuke blinked, before nodding. "Yessir."

**|/\|\/|**

"Er...Hawk-san?"

"Not yet."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably on the spot. They've been sitting outside a window on the first floor for about fifteen minutes now, and the pink-haired girl still didn't know why. Yamato must have some sort of thing planned, but Sakura felt a little miffed that she wasn't let in.

The ANBU turned to her, before placing a hand on her shoulder. "Two minutes. Prepare."

Sakura nods, before flexing her fingers. "Er, why are we waiting?"

The man didn't answer, only looking at her through the slits of his mask.

"Is it..." Sakura glanced at him. "Is it because our compatibility with samurai are much lower than the rest so we're letting them take care of most of them?"

"Correct." Yamato smiled under the mask, but Sakura couldn't see, so he opted to gently squeeze her shoulder instead. "But also because from what Himari said, the lower levels are more dangerous, so we should be more occupied with what's on the levels rather than who's guarding it."

"More...dangerous?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Thanks for the comments too because I haven't been getting it much, so I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job or a MeH YoU cOuLd bE bEtTeR kind of thing. But anyway, thanks so much for your comments! Also a big thank you to z_t for telling me that typo - so sorry that it happened in the first place.  
> We'll have a little more Sakura in the next chapter, so I hope you enjoy! I put in a tiny preview there~  
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


	17. Konoha's Not-ANBU, V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura is all alone; Kakashi summons his ninken; lock without a key.

Sakura heaved in a deep breath, trying her hardest to keep her breathing even while being completely silent at the same time.

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

She cursed. Yamato was right about the lower levels being harder. When the frick did they add random booby traps? What were they keeping on the lower levels?

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

The pink-haired girl's calculating eyes dart back and forth. She could try and run for it, but that wasn't the best idea. Staying here was ideal for her health and _staying alive in general_ , but she had to get the mission done. Something was being kept here, and she was going to find out what it was.

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

Unfortunately, there was a gigantic animal in the same room, its slobber getting all over the floor and the loud breathing sending shivers down Sakura's back. It was right there. In front of her exit. Not to mention, there were dead bodies all over the floor, some were just skeletons, others were decaying rotting bodies. What happened in here?

_In._

_Out._

The chunin slowly let out a shaky breath, before forcing her shaking hands to move.

_In._

_Suiton: Teppōdama._

_Out._

A large bullet of water shot out of Sakura's mouth, nailing the animal in the head. Oh, well, one of its heads. The kunoichi distantly remembered something about a three-headed dog guarding the underworld or something, and she was positive that this three-headed dog was the one guarding her only exit. The one she had entered through was now gone, vanished. The girl didn't even sense any chakra from the door, but it was now gone as if it was never there in the first place.

It was like the lower levels were changed to a labyrinth. A live one too.

_In._

The dog reared onto his meaty back legs, and Sakura's blinked, taking in its size. It had to be at least as big as a full-grown bear.

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

_In-_

Sakura bolted.

She weaved in between the legs, channelling chakra into her fists and lashed out, her fists gracefully landing exactly on the targeted spots. She could hear the cracks and snaps of the bones shattering, and just managed to _shunshin_ out of the way as a pair of jaws came snapping after her.

The chunin exhaled, blowing a floating strand of hair out of her face, making sure that it didn't obscure her view, especially when she wore a mask.

The girl's hands blur together as they made seals. She bit her lip. _Jubaku Satsu._

Sakura wasn't sure that a genjutsu would work on a three-headed dog, but it was worth a shot. The dog spun around, all three heads drooling on the ground, the disgusting saliva flicking everywhere. But the small chunin was nowhere to be seen, completely gone. Sure it was dark and barely visible in the room, but the dog had an extremely good sense of smell, as all dogs do.

And there was no trace of the pink-haired girl.

The dog barked.

A tree came out of nowhere, shooting up, wounding around the three-headed monster's legs, locking it in place. The trunk thickened behind the large animal, the growth not stopping, even though almost half of the tree's limbs were being torn off by the pure strength the dog was using.

Sakura appeared from inside the tree, green eyes somewhat alit with fire.

"Sorry," she muttered.

A green light coated her kunai that she clutched tightly in her hand, and she plunged the weapon into the dog's body. Her arm, wrapped in a protective armour of chakra, shot through the animal's body with such strength and precision, that as soon as her body stopped moving, she knew that she had hit the spot she was aiming for.

The dog grumbled, before falling flat on its face, with Sakura's balancing herself daintily on the back of the monster's spine, yanking her arm out at the same time.

She admired her kunai for a moment, looking at the green light around it with interest. She had been taught by Himari about some sort of 'chakra scalpels', which only injured the internal organs, not the outer ones. Things like skin and hair weren't harmed as the chakra scalpel was inserted into the body, but anything past the outer layer was seriously harmed. Without the right treatment, the wound would essentially be permanent.

The Haruno had only been thinking fast, coating that very 'chakra scalpel' foundation around her kunai because she knew what the three-headed dog's heart was too far away just to reach into the body to hit. It seems like she found something new. Himari definitely would hear about this later.

"Stop dozing off," the girl suddenly reprimanded herself, shaking herself out of her daze. "Just keep going."

She still froze there, glancing down at the dead large body underneath her.

Sakura gulped, before wiping her slightly bloody right arm on her uniform and leaping off the body to get to the only visible door. She yanked open the door, forcing it open with a little help from her incredible chakra control, prepared herself mentally-

-but was not prepared for what was inside.

People. Alive.

Of all ages, varying from younger than Sakura herself until what she thought looked like Kakashi's age.

They all shot up, weakly, getting into defensive positions. Sakura's inner sensei startled awake, and she found herself thinking, _what is that form? Their feet are too close together, arms are way too flimsy and their fists are shaking!_ But aloud, she managed to make her voice soothing and calming, as she said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

They all froze, stiffening.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, before weighing the pros and cons of taking her mask off. She might not be as good as Naruto or Yugao, but her sensory abilities weren't bad either. She could sense their chakra had been attempted at refining it, but it wasn't right. It was like they worked so hard to do something with the chakra coils and snapped it along the way.

"Come here," she whispered, opening her arms, "I'll take you to safety."

None of them moved. All of their eyes were trained on her mask.

She sighed, before slowing reaching up to her mask, noting how they all froze, before taking it off gently, letting it fall away from her face. Almost all of them relaxed, except for the older ones, that looked about the same age as Kakashi.

"You're one of them..." A woman croaked. "One of the prodigies..."

"No," Sakura shook her head gently and slowly, "I'm definitely not a prodigy. I'm not from here."

"What are you?" A man snarled.

Sakura smiled warmly. "I'm part of Konohagakure."

Then the woman suddenly leapt forwards, engulfing her in a hug. The shinobi, having crouched down in a defensive position, staggered back slightly, before managing to regain her balance quickly. The woman was sobbing, and Sakura started to panic a little.

"I am so happy to see you-"

"Oba-san," Sakura said softly, "er, I'm not sure what you're doing, but I need to get you lot out of here."

A girl walked up to Sakura, touching the kunoichi's knee. Sakura gulped. The girl looked about eight, max. "You're taking us out of here?"

Sakura steeled herself, before nodding. "Yes. Now please, tell me, do you have any training?"

"They tried," the man said tiredly, slumping to the ground. "We...we tried our best to keep up. But then we didn't pass the exams, so we were tossed down here. No food, no water. The only way we were let out was to beat that monster outside."

The woman let go of Sakura, giving the girl a rough shake. "Did you face him? Did you face Uchino?"

Uchino? Sakura took it as a name for the three-headed dog. "Yes. He's dead. Please, we need to go. I'm on a time strain."

"We can take care of the kids," A teenager said curtly, but shot Sakura a dirty look. "Go. Do whatever shit you need to do."

The woman beside Sakura flinched, opening her mouth to reprimand the boy, but Sakura held up a hand and levelled his glare with a blank stare of her own. "Are you sure? I will force you all out of this dangerous place if I have to."

"Oh?" The boy snapped. "You're what, five years younger than me?"

"Age doesn't matter," Sakura says.

"As if. The younger, the better, was it?"

"No? Where did you get that from?"

"Say, just because you're younger-"

Sakura was getting restless. She had no idea how the others were going and didn't know if Yamato was already expecting her on level two. She was under time pressure. She had to get out of here.

"I _said_ ," Sakura emphasised, a little of KI leaking out, "I need to get you out of here. You're on level one of the while building, or maybe the basement. There are other levels that need to be cleared for safety, so I will resort to physical ways to get you out of here."

The boy smirked, getting into a defensive position. "Go for it. The only reason I'm down here is because I failed the poison test. I was the top of the defence class, I'm warning you-"

Sakura shot forwards, whirling around with a roundhouse kick.

No one reacted.

She was too fast for them.

Although she did place chakra on the bottom of her feet, a lot of her physical aspects and training were displayed there as well.

She didn't even huff, just stood over the slumped unconscious body of the boy with a blank face. "Are we good? I must get you out of here."

"We're too wea-"

Sakura hauled the boy's arm over her shoulder, and to her surprise, he was terrifyingly light. "Follow me. Grab the kids."

All of those under the age of the teenage boy shrank away from her, but the rest of them complied and grabbed the children and followed the shinobi out of the room. She sent out waves of her chakra, managing to sense a static Yamato above, who was just standing there, kneeling on the ground, a hand placed in front of him. No one else was nearby. He must've finished the rest of the level already.

She placed her mask back on, before spiking her chakra in an elaborate pattern, and Yamato's signature started moving not long after.

They were only there for about fourteen seconds before large wooden branches came shooting down, latching onto Sakura's waist, delicately wrapping around the unconscious boy's torso as well.

Sakura looked up to see a hole - most likely forced by the Wood Release - and a glimpse of Yamato's mask before the man nods, and she heaved a sigh of relief as more wood branches came down and wrapped around the other people in the room, before they were gently hauled up.

The first thing Yamato did was check up on Sakura. "That was extremely dangerous."

"Sorry," Sakura breathed.

"Don't say sorry," Yamato instructed, looking her over for wounds. "That can't do anything. Why didn't you call for help?"

Sakura frowned under the mask. "You were fighting at least seven samurai so I thought you'd be busy."

Yamato sighed, before glancing behind him. All of the other people you had rescued was there, all of them shaking and looking in wonder as the wood branches twisted and retracted into Yamato's sleeve. He raises his eyebrows, not that anyone can see. "Who are they?"

"There was a three-headed dog guarding a door, so I killed it, and they were behind the door," Sakura informs him.

Yamato glanced at the man, before kneeling in front of him. "Hey, there. The name's Hawk. Can you please tell me about the reason why you were down there?"

"What about the upper levels-"

"Raven and Viper are there."

"Already?"

"As I've said, there are many well-guarded things on the first floor. This is one of them." Yamato turned to the man again. "Can you tell me anything?"

The man opened his mouth.

**|/\|\/|**

_"Who are you?"_

_The large fat man pushed up his tiny sunglasses. "I'm here to offer you something."_

_The man flinched. "What?"_

_The man, by the name of Chiziwa, with no last name, was sitting on the ground, outside of a house. He was using the small coverage the roof gave him since it had rained last night. Chiziwa couldn't remember the last time he had a house to return to, the only thing he could hold onto was his burning hatred for his father, who tossed him out like he meant nothing._

_"I said," the fat man sniffed, "I'm here to offer you something."_

_"What is it?" Chiziwa said weakly. He hasn't had food for weeks, and the only water he got was rainwater._

_"Join me." The man shifted around in his expensive suit. "Join me, and if you pass, you'll have the best life ever."_

_Chiziwa was naive._

_He knew that._

_But he joined this man, who then introduced himself as 'Gato', under the belief that maybe, just maybe, he could have a stable life._

_Just maybe._

_And he was wrong. Chiziwa now had two people to hate, his father and Gato._

_"Subject two-oh-one," a samurai called, "come on out here, you piece of trash."_

_Chiziwa moved silently, stepping out of his cell. His arms were grabbed roughly by a samurai, his wrists being tied together with rope behind his back. The samurai grabbed a tuff of his hair, before dragging the man down the hallway. Chiziwa was used to it. It was time to start classes, wasn't it?_

_Class one._

_It was always self-defence._

_"I want you going through your katas at full speed!" A woman was bellowing. "You've had three days to learn them already, get your asses into those forms or you're not worth all the money Gato-sama spends on housing and feeding you!"_

_It hasn't even been two minutes before a child, no bigger than ten, collapsed. No one dared to stop, still rushing through their katas, the instructors whacking them mercilessly when they saw one wrong form. Chiziwa's eyes widened as he realised he knew who the child was. It was a girl who had smiled and greeted him the first time he was brought into the tower building. Her name was...Un? Ah, yes. Then her classmates were Deux, Trois, Quatre and so on. He remembered thinking that it sounded vaguely like a foreign language, but he wasn't educated enough to know if it actually was._

_"Take her to the room," the woman instructor spat, kicking Un in the ribs._

_Another instructor nodded, picking up the girl like a bag of potatoes and stomping out of the place._

_"UN!"_

_Chiziwa winced. He glanced over quickly but made sure to snap his neck back in place, or he'll be the next one to disappear. No one knows what happens to the people who were taken into 'the room'. Only that they never came back._

_"Trois," he hissed, "shut up."_

_"UN! UN! UN, I PROMISED TO PROTE-"_

_The boy was killed on the spot. A simple blade to the forehead and he was silent. He swayed a little, before falling flat on his face._ _Everyone stiffened, but kept going. You could also smell fear in the air, which was something Chiziwa learnt to get used to._

_"Oi," the woman growled, nonchalantly tossing up another identical knife in her hand, "do I need to make it double speed?! Get to work!"_

_Class two._

_Poisons._

_"As you can see," this time it was a young man teaching, even younger than Chiziwa. "This is labelled cyanide. This is a lethal poison that binds iron to blood, stopping the oxygen flow through the veins. It's very useful. There are very small amounts of it in fresh produce like apples. I want you to make hydrogen cyanide. Go wild."_

_No one moved._

_The man sneered. "Did you not hear me? Make hydrogen cyanide!"_

_Everyone scrambled to move after that. No one knew how to, of course, but this was a normal thing inside class two now. What Chiziwa thought was awful was the fact that if you made it too fast, you'd be suspicious. If you didn't manage to make it, your chances of dying during class was higher._

_Chiziwa knew nothing about poisons. There was also the lingering fact that if you did something wrong and ingested the poison yourself, you'd die._

_But there was that newbie who did, but knew nothing about the unspoken rules._

_"Finished," She said confidently._

_Everyone froze._

_The teacher snarled again. "Get to work! Jeez, you group of uneducated brats!"_

_He stalks up to the woman's table, and Chiziwa noted she was one of the oldest there. Maybe she had some inside knowledge on poisons. Chiziwa bowed his head, his hands shaking as he fumbled around with the plastic beakers. Glass was too expensive, and if you broke it, it could be used as a weapon._

_"Where are the safety equipment, huh?" The woman challenged. "To work in a lab, you need to be safe!"_

_The man barked out a laugh. "Oh? She's annoying."_

_"Me?" The woman said, and it was her last word, as a katana came out of nowhere and sliced her in the neck._

_The teacher smiled at a samurai, who simply bowed and walked back to his post, his blade dripping blood. Chiziwa kept his head down, making sure that he didn't look at the woman whose corpse was just lying on her station, blood leaking onto the ground._

_Even her partner who was sharing her station didn't even look at the bleeding dead body._ _No one did._

_Tea break._

_It was only for fifteen minutes. In complete silence. If anyone was heard talking, they were either gone or dead, depending on the surrounding samurai's mood._

_Class three._

_Weaponry._

_It was perhaps the simplest class._ _No instructor. Just supervisors. You picked any weapon, the same one each time was ideal, and practised. There was no one to guide you, and it was a common belief that Gato couldn't afford more instructors._

_Chiziwa was always the one with nunchucks. Mostly because he was part of the batch where they came in with the most people, so all the people who ran to get weapons first got the better ones, and he was just there, twirling his nunchucks awkwardly, not knowing how to use them._

_There were always new people. It was weird if no new people showed up each day, because it was always frequent when new people were lured into the idea of having a 'better life', then ending up a guinea pigs for Gato. No one knew what his end goal was._

_Class four._

_Stealth._

_Chiziwa's worst class. He's surprised he hasn't died yet._

_Class five._

_General knowledge._

_Complete bullshit. Who wants to learn about how plants use photosynthesis to grow? But this was where Chiziwa overheard some information. That they were training not for Gato, but someone who Gato was supplying._

_Who wanted people trained? Was this man trying to create an army?_

_"Did you hear?"_

_"What?"_

_"Gato-sama's boss came to visit him today."_

_"Gato-sama has a boss?"_

_Chiziwa's thoughts exactly._

_"Yeah." The man lowers his voice. "Apparently we're training these people because Gato-sama gets stuff in return. I think he sells the trainees."_

_"Sells them? Those useless things?"_

_"That's why we're training them."_

_Chiziwa's throat went dry. So even if you passed the exams you'd still be sent to a new-_

_Lunch._

_Complete silence._

_Class six._

_The worst class._

_Chakra control._

_Almost everyone who was picked for these 'classes' didn't even know what chakra was._

_And it was the class where the most people were taken away._

_"Muster chakra into your fucking fingertips!"_

_Oh. And it was with the worst instructor. Even worse than the self-defence one._

_"IT'S NOT THAT FUCKIGN HARD, JUST FU-"_

_Oh._

_And it was the class Chiziwa was kicked out, sent to 'the room'._

_He couldn't exactly remember how long he'd been inside, but he was always like a father to the children inside. To say he was surprised when the top of the self-defence student, Vignt, stumbled into the room, barely making it past Uchino, cursing Gato and his goons._

_But he always held out. So many of the reckless ones darted out the door only to be killed and eaten like food._

_When the door opened from the outside for the first time, the first thing he thought was-_

_-there's another victim-_

_-but then a girl appeared, her arm covered in blood, and the obvious stains of her wiping her arm on her white clothing was glaringly obvious._

_The first thing she said?_

_"I'm not going to hurt you."_

**|/\|\/|**

"They're..." Yamato trailed off. "Sakura, can you deal with them?"

The pink-haired girl salutes. "Yes!"

The girl darts forwards, two kunais already spinning in hand, surprising all of the non-shinobi as she diligently captures the incoming threats in a genjutsu and spins around, slitting their throats. Anyone with refined chakra was a threat, and no one was going to be spared. Not while there were people that needed to be protected.

Yamato turns to the man. "What's your name?"

"Chiziwa."

"Now tell me, are they training you just to sell you off later?"

"...I just said that?"

"Just confirming."

Yamato sighed, just as Yugao _shunshined_ to his side. All of the 'trainees' jumped, scrambling as far away as possible from the purple-haired woman. She didn't bat them an eye, shifting her bear mask on her face. "Eh, we finished."

"Did you?" Yamato glanced back at where Sakura was still fighting whirling back and forth. "Take these hostages out of here."

Yugao squinted. "Look, Rabbit-"

Yamato arrived just in time, wrapping Sakura in a cocoon of wood before launching forwards, his free hand making seals. A long tendril of thin water shot out of his mouth, zipping towards the samurai at an alarming speed, cutting sharply through their bodies.

He stood over the dead bodies, eyeing them carefully. Pulling out a set of shuriken, he nailed them all in the heart once more before releasing Sakura from her cocoon.

"I am so-"

"Are you alright?" Yamato cut in. "You did well, for someone based on strength rather than speed."

Sakura blinked, before bowing. "Hai."

She looked behind him, only to see everyone gone. "Er, why is no one there?"

"Yugao took them," Yamato nods, "and we need to get going. I've cleared the second floor, so let's go up to the third."

"Hai!"

**|/\|\/|**

"Y'know," Kakashi muttered, drawing a seal on the ground using his black ink. "I think I made the mission out to be worse than it actually is."

Himari glanced over at him from where she was copying his seals. "Not really, taichou. It is extremely dangerous, especially with samurai."

Kakashi sighed, flexing his fingers slightly as he took a short break from drawing. "Really? We're just setting up a trap. Nothing much."

Himari raised her eyebrows. "Taichou-"

The silver-haired jonin raised a hand suddenly, and she cut off instantly. The man open his left eye tentatively, scanning the area with the red pupil. Then he closed it, before nodding at Himari. The woman _shunshins_ away, leaving no trace of her, and Kakashi starts making seals.

Two patrolling guards come stalking down the hallway, and let out a surprised yelp when they see Kakashi standing there.

The shinobi eye-smiled. _Narakumi no Jutsu._

They all froze.

The experienced ninja shot forwards, a kunai in each hand, slitting the two throats with ease.

Just as he had hauled the bodies out of the way and to the side, Urushi appeared, silently running down the hallways towards his master. Kakashi glanced up, having smelt the familiar dog, before raising his eyebrows at the ninken.

"Hmm?" Kakashi ruffled his dog's fur.

Urushi barked lightly. "Hyena's finished the seals."

"Good." Kakashi stands up properly, before biting into his thumb. " _Kuchiyose no Jutsu._ "

A poof later, the whole group of ninken were there, and Urushi happily mingled back into the pack. Kakashi pet them all shortly on the head with an eye-smile, before getting serious. "I want you all to go down that way, turn left, go down a two flights of stairs, and wreck havoc inside that lower level. Got that?" Kakashi instructed.

All of them cocked their head to the side.

Kakashi sighed. "Light, light, sunset two, eta at sunset two." _Left, left, down two, confusion and havoc at down two._

Pakkun snorts. "Just say that, pup. Let's get going, guys."

"Understands code but not Japanese," Kakashi muttered.

"But isn't code in Japanese?" Biscuit pointed out.

"Technicalities," Kakashi dismisses, "go on. Have fun."

They all nod before bolting down the hallway to the left. Before they could disappear out of earshot, Kakashi called, "lock without a key."

Pakkun glances back. "Got the key, kid."

It was a thing Kakashi and his ninken did. A 'lock without a key' needed a 'key', which was what the ninken would say after they've completed their part of the mission. It was almost like wishing luck, except wishing luck was almost as if you weren't going to see them again. Saying that you needed a key meant you expected them to come back again, which was developed while Kakashi was in ANBU, with Bull, the large black dog, coming up with the idea. It stuck ever since.

Kakashi watched the dogs disappear past the corner before he turned around to check over the seals. If this went to plan, then getting Katsumi Chikylu off her daimyo throne was going to be much easier than anticipated.

Afterall, Chikylu was a paranoid woman who didn't trust anyone but herself.

No one.

Even her own small force of police.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayyyyyy...I'm sorry this update was later in the day but I was busy preparing for stuff and assessments soooo-  
> Anyways, thanks for sticking by me and I hope you like this chapter! Right now, schoolwork is piling up this week and because of Covid my teachers think I have more free time than I actually do, so now school things are getting into my writing time. Sorry about that, but I'll try my best to get the updates on time!
> 
> Thanks for reading and commenting (I LOVE READING YOUR COMMENTS SO THANK YOU)!
> 
> ~ VirgoAthenaPurple


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